A Supreme Court (SC) ruling against land distribution and in favor of the SDO and the so-called compromise deal offered by the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) will have far reaching impact not only on the farmworkers in the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda but also on other future farmer beneficiaries. This fight is not only about Hacienda Luisita.
The bigger issue at stake is the fate of the whole agrarian reform program. The SC decision will influence how the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) will fare in the next four years. In the SC decision will also rest the fate of the millions of potential agrarian reform beneficiaries awaiting agrarian reform implementation.
This is why it is crucial for President Noynoy Aquino to now take a stand and push for the distribution of Hacienda Luisita. To distribute the lands to which the farmworkers are entitled is to merely follow the law. The failure of the HLI to implement the Stock Distribution Option agreement, which was also a result of a referendum in 1989, has deprived the agrarian reform beneficiaries of the hacienda the purported benefits under the arrangement. This is the reason why the farmworkers wanted the SDO scheme revoked. Once revoked, the lands that were placed under the SDO should immediately be distributed, something that should have happened years ago if the HLI had not asked the Supreme Court for a temporary restraining order on the implementation the DAR order to revoke the scheme adopted by HLI.
The bigger issue at stake is the fate of the whole agrarian reform program. The SC decision will influence how the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) will fare in the next four years. In the SC decision will also rest the fate of the millions of potential agrarian reform beneficiaries awaiting agrarian reform implementation.
This is why it is crucial for President Noynoy Aquino to now take a stand and push for the distribution of Hacienda Luisita. To distribute the lands to which the farmworkers are entitled is to merely follow the law. The failure of the HLI to implement the Stock Distribution Option agreement, which was also a result of a referendum in 1989, has deprived the agrarian reform beneficiaries of the hacienda the purported benefits under the arrangement. This is the reason why the farmworkers wanted the SDO scheme revoked. Once revoked, the lands that were placed under the SDO should immediately be distributed, something that should have happened years ago if the HLI had not asked the Supreme Court for a temporary restraining order on the implementation the DAR order to revoke the scheme adopted by HLI.
As president, Noynoy Aquino should set an example to others that he or his family is not above the law. This becomes even more significant given the image that the Aquino family has cultivated to this day: that they are for social justice; that they are against the use of political and economic power for personal ends.
It would be detrimental to the Aquino administration if the president will continue to be non-committal about Hacienda Luisita; by doing so, he is also not committing to an agrarian reform program that may be the only hope of the farmers to cope with poverty. If he were really a champion of the people as he is perceived now, he should push for genuine land reform, and in the case of Hacienda Luisita that would mean ending the SDO and redistributing the lands.
The attempt of his relatives (given that he has divested his shares in HLI) to forge a compromise agreement does not excuse President Noynoy from his mandate to implement agrarian reform, which is enshrined in the Constitution.
At the same time, his action to push for the redistribution of Hacienda Luisita is not an act of benevolence, but merely an act honoring the commitment long made by his ancestors when they acquired the lands of Hacienda Luisita with mainly government money. Both the Central Bank and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) had agreed to the purchase of Hacienda Luisita and granting of loan to the Cojuangcos for said purchase “with a view to distributing this hacienda to small farmers in line with the Administration’s social justice program" (Central Bank Monetary Board Resolution No. 1240, August 27, 1957), and that Hacienda Luisita should be “subdivided among the tenants who shall pay the cost thereof under reasonable terms and conditions". (GSIS Resolution No. 1085, May 7, 1957; GSIS Resolution No. 3202, November 25, 1957)
The distribution under the Central Bank Resolution should have been ten years from 1957 and should therefore have been concluded 43 years ago had the Cojuangcos honored the agreement. Unfortunately, not only had they failed to uphold the provision of the agreement, they have persisted with retaining control over lands which would not have been theirs had the government not supported them.
President Nonynoy’s campaign was based on his call for change. He had sought and projected an image of someone cut from a different cloth; that he is a different breed of politician who seeks only to follow the straight path. He was voted into office because many people actually believed him. Much is therefore expected of him.
He could not just hide under the guise of searching for a "compromise agreement" or a "win-win solution" for Hacienda Luisita, because distributing the lands is a matter of enforcing the law that he swore to uphold.
Hacienda Luisita remains to be a symbol of the injustice began during the Spanish colonization and had been perpetuated by those who were able to secure the “title” to these lands, woe to the small Filipino farmers who had tilled the lands and dedicated their lives to making these lands productive.
The clamor for agrarian reform has reverberated throughout Philippine history. Let the history of oppression of the farmers end now.
It would be detrimental to the Aquino administration if the president will continue to be non-committal about Hacienda Luisita; by doing so, he is also not committing to an agrarian reform program that may be the only hope of the farmers to cope with poverty. If he were really a champion of the people as he is perceived now, he should push for genuine land reform, and in the case of Hacienda Luisita that would mean ending the SDO and redistributing the lands.
The attempt of his relatives (given that he has divested his shares in HLI) to forge a compromise agreement does not excuse President Noynoy from his mandate to implement agrarian reform, which is enshrined in the Constitution.
At the same time, his action to push for the redistribution of Hacienda Luisita is not an act of benevolence, but merely an act honoring the commitment long made by his ancestors when they acquired the lands of Hacienda Luisita with mainly government money. Both the Central Bank and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) had agreed to the purchase of Hacienda Luisita and granting of loan to the Cojuangcos for said purchase “with a view to distributing this hacienda to small farmers in line with the Administration’s social justice program" (Central Bank Monetary Board Resolution No. 1240, August 27, 1957), and that Hacienda Luisita should be “subdivided among the tenants who shall pay the cost thereof under reasonable terms and conditions". (GSIS Resolution No. 1085, May 7, 1957; GSIS Resolution No. 3202, November 25, 1957)
The distribution under the Central Bank Resolution should have been ten years from 1957 and should therefore have been concluded 43 years ago had the Cojuangcos honored the agreement. Unfortunately, not only had they failed to uphold the provision of the agreement, they have persisted with retaining control over lands which would not have been theirs had the government not supported them.
President Nonynoy’s campaign was based on his call for change. He had sought and projected an image of someone cut from a different cloth; that he is a different breed of politician who seeks only to follow the straight path. He was voted into office because many people actually believed him. Much is therefore expected of him.
He could not just hide under the guise of searching for a "compromise agreement" or a "win-win solution" for Hacienda Luisita, because distributing the lands is a matter of enforcing the law that he swore to uphold.
Hacienda Luisita remains to be a symbol of the injustice began during the Spanish colonization and had been perpetuated by those who were able to secure the “title” to these lands, woe to the small Filipino farmers who had tilled the lands and dedicated their lives to making these lands productive.
The clamor for agrarian reform has reverberated throughout Philippine history. Let the history of oppression of the farmers end now.
