Government vows aid to Hacienda Luisita tillers

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala says the government will provide assistance to the 6,200 farmer-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) once the Supreme Court order to dismantle the estate owned by President Benigno Aquino III’s family becomes final.

In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday, Alcala said he had discussed services and support to the Luisita farmers with Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes.

“To be fair to the President, his instruction was to take care of the farmers, not to leave them alone,” Alcala said.

Officials of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said the hacienda workers had not received government assistance because they were working for a private company.

HLI was incorporated in 1989 to qualify for an exemption to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) promulgated by Mr. Aquino’s mother, democracy icon Corazon Aquino, a year earlier, to fulfill her campaign promise to promote social justice and remove a major cause of peasant unrest.

In 2004, HLI workers, protesting a stock distribution option (SDO) under CARP which they said had not improved their lives contrary to the objectives of the reform program, staged a strike which turned violent and left at least seven workers dead when soldiers opened fire on the protesters.

The high tribunal, in a November 22 ruling on a motion for reconsideration of a July 5 decision, unanimously agreed to uphold a 2005 resolution by the DAR, affirmed by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council, ordering the revocation of the SDO, and scrapping the court’s earlier directive for workers to reaffirm their 1999 vote for stocks in lieu of land.

The distribution of 5,000 hectares of the hacienda to 6,200 farmers will take place once just compensation is agreed on. The high court has directed that the value of the land be reckoned from 1999 when the SDO deal was struck, but the President’s family insists that current market value for the land be followed as fair compensation.

Appeal likely

The HLI owners, while saying they will respect the court’s decision, are expected to appeal the decision.

In his first statement on the case at the weekend, Mr. Aquino said that there should be just compensation to his relatives, but militants said the clan had benefited from the estate for more than half a century and that it was only fair that compensation for the land be made affordable to the beneficiaries who will pay for their piece of the estate.

A source close to the Aquino family said following the release of the court decision that HLI was indebted to San Miguel Corp., run by a relative, Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, as chairman, to the tune of P2 billion in advances for purchases of sugar products for alcoholic drinks.

The contract was reportedly not fulfilled because of the 2004 strike in the hacienda.

The source indicated that the debt was part of liabilities that HLI would have to settle.

Agricultural services

Alcala said Hacienda Luisita would serve as a test case for the agriculture department’s extension services. Once the court declares its decision final and executory, he said the government would make sure that farmers have the equipment and facilities to make the land productive.

He said the agriculture department was prepared to install irrigation facilities and help farmers purchase inputs and machinery. “We will have to integrate them quickly and mechanize the land,” he noted.

Hacienda Luisita is the largest sugar plantation in Luzon. Alcala said the area could be used by the agriculture department to test new varieties of sugar cane.

De los Reyes said farmers in the estate could also be taught to plant high-value crops and vegetables.

“It will all depend on the behavior of the land,” Alcala said, noting that his department is prepared to come in and test the soil to determine what kind of crop is best for it.

Alcala also urged the farmers there to form cooperatives to maximize use of the land.