MANILA, Philippines?The decision of the Hacienda Luisita workers to choose the Stock Distribution Option instead of getting their own land should be respected since they are the ones suffering from the hardships brought about by the labor problems on the vast sugar estate, the Catholic bishop of Tarlac said Saturday.

Bishop Florentino Cinense, whose flock includes the Luisita farmhands, said that the workers? choice should also be respected because the land being offered to them, around 1,400 hectares out of the 6,500-hectare estate, was too small.

"You cannot inflict injury on somebody who is willing to receive it. If that is what they want, what can we do?" Cinense said in Filipino in an interview on the Church-run Radio Veritas.

"Their problem is that they want to have jobs. They've been out of work for three or four years, so they're really hard-pressed," he added.

Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) last week reached a so-called "compromise agreement" with the workers that made them choose between retaining their shares of stock in the company or converting them into farm lots.

Out of the 10,502 workers, 7,441 or 70.85 percent signed the compromise agreement. Of this number, 7,302 opted for SDO, while 139 chose to have their own land.

On Thursday, HLI also began distributing an initial P20 million of a P150 million financial assistance package to be given to the farmers under the agreement. The balance of P130 would be released if the Supreme Court approves the deal, which in effect would leave the estate intact and under the control of the influential Cojuangco family.

Cinense said that the small plots of land being offered were not enough to ensure that the farmers would be gainfully employed. He noted that around 10,000 workers were being made to share only 1,400 hectares instead of the entire 6,500 hectares.

"Now, if they are given one-fourth of a hectare, what can they do with it? That is why many of them, in silence and in private, they say that it would be better to have the SDO or get paid. That is what they said," according to the bishop.

He said that the farmers' interests might even be harmed if the agrarian reform program was followed strictly to the letter.

"They are the ones who are affected. If we say, `Since this is the law, you have to accept the law,' that's ok but they will be hurt. Why should we force them and give them more hardships?" Cinense said.

"I thought we wanted to help, so isn't right that we should just let them be?" he added.

Cinense said that the farmers' share of the land might even get smaller if the hacienda was partitioned because roads would have to be built.

"The land would get smaller and they don't have capital so maybe that's what they're thinking. So for me, who am I to say they have to abide by the law if they're the ones suffering?" he added.