Aquino told to distribute Hacienda Luisita

Thursday, November 24, 2011
MANILA — Militant groups called on President Benigno Aquino III to immediately implement the Supreme Court decision on the distribution of about 5,000 hectares of Hacienda Luisita, a sprawling agricultural estate owned by his family in Tarlac.
In a rally outside the High Tribunal on Thursday, the groups led by Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) said the President should not use his position to favor the interest of his family.
“We hope that Aquino will not use his position as president to get away with the SC ruling. He must immediately abide by the High Court’s decision to distribute the land, direct his family to let go of the Hacienda, and pay the farm workers what is due them,” Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) information officer Jay Calaguing told Sun.Star.
Before the protest, Chief Justice Renato Corona confirmed to media that 14 out of 15 justices voted for land distribution. Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio inhibited from the case.
In the decision, the court ordered the distribution of 4,915 hectares of the estate to the 6,296 farm worker-beneficiaries and for the Hacienda Luisita Incorporated (HLI) to pay them P1.3 billion.
The stock distribution plan implemented before by the management, as stated in the High Court ruling, will never provide farmers the control of the land that they tilled for decades.
At present, farmer-beneficiaries control a third of the HLI, which is equivalent to 118,391,976.85 shares of stock.
“The number of shares that will constitute the majority is 295,112,101. The 118,391,976.85 shares subject to the SDP approved by PARC (Presidential Agrarian Reform Council) substantially fall short of the 295,112,101 shares needed by the farmer workers-beneficiaries to acquire control,” the 56-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. stated.
According to the decision, the HLI should pay the farm workers P500 million it received from Luisita Realty Inc. for the sale of 200 hectares of land in 1996; P750 million for the sale of the Luisita Industrial Park; and P80,511,500 for the sale of the 80.51-hectare lot for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway road network.
Lawyer Jobert Pahilga, counsel for the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), said the SC decision on the land dispute was long overdue but a welcome development.
“For sure, the Cojuangco-Aquino family will do everything under its power to prevent the execution of the recent SC decision. Given their influence, politically and economically…we could never be sure on what will happen to this recent SC decision until it attained finality,” he said.
The National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (Nassa) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) also lauded the decision.
“It’s a long awaited decision and a step forward for the Supreme Court to regain its credibility in proving that it can truly stand for the truth and justice,” said Fr. Edu Gariguez, Nassa executive secretary.
Senator Francis Pangilinan, chairman of the chamber’s committee on agriculture, saw the ruling as a “victory” for Filipino farmers.
“We would like to see more such victories for those still awaiting land distribution. We must give our farmer-workers their due. They are our crucial link to our food supply, as such we must do all we can to secure them,” he said.
Pangilinan said, however, that the government must make sure that farmers will earn more money to “release them from bondage.”
He earlier said the aging population of Filipino farmers — the average age is 57 — earn only as low as P2,000 a month.
Among others, the Court directed the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to submit a compliance report after six months from finality of the ruling.
It is also required to provide quarterly reports within 15 days after each quarter, until the judgment is fully implemented.
Moreover, the department was asked to hire a “reputable accounting firm” to audit the books of HLI and Centennary Holdings Inc. to determine if the P1.33 billion proceeds were actually used or spent for “legitimate corporate purposes.”
Any unspent or unused balance and any disallowed expenditures as determined by the audit shall be distributed to the 6,296 original beneficiaries, the SC said.
Last July 5, the SC rendered a decision that ordered the farm workers to choose, through a secret voting, whether to remain as stock holders of HLI or opt for land distribution.
Ambala filed a motion for reconsideration and argued, among others, that section 31 or the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) provision of Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law is unconstitutional.
They said section 31 does not give the farmers ownership of the land but the corporation, and they will only be given shares of stocks equivalent to the value of the land.
The group also argued that the decision, which orders the farm workers to choose whether to remain as stockholders of HLI or to opt for land distribution, would result in inequity and prejudice to the farm workers as they will remain the minority stockholders. (Virgil Lopez/Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/11/24/aquino-told-distribute-hacienda-luisita-192397

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