Land reform chief: Corona impeachment should not affect Luisita ruling

MANILA, Philippines— The impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona should not affect the Supreme Court’s final ruling on the distribution of the vast sugar estate owned by the family of President Benigno Aquino III, Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes said Wednesday.

“I hope not; It should not,” Delos Reyes told reporters after the Communication and News Exchange Forum at the Philippine Information Agency.

Supreme Court justices voted 14-0 in late November for the distribution of the remaining 4,915.75 hectares of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac to 6,296 farmworker-beneficiaries. Some parties have petitioned the high court to reconsider its decision.

Ahead of its final ruling, the House justice committee last Monday voted to impeach Corona on several grounds.

Delos Reyes also pooh-poohed reports that the impeachment had to do with the high court’s ruling on the Cojuangco sugar estate.

“Whatever were the grounds in the impeachment, that’s it… To begin with, how can you even speculate about the reasons behind the impeachment?  Most probably it’s a confluence of several events. I don’t think it’s related with Luisita,’’ he said at the forum.

Since the ruling was not yet final, the Department of Agrarian Reform couldn’t make any move except to prepare an information campaign for the farmer-beneficiaries.

Should the high court deny the motion for reconsideration, Delos Reyes said, the Landbank of the Philippines could begin a valuation of the land preparatory to the determination of the just compensation due the landowner, Hacienda Luisita Inc.

He balked at estimating the amount of compensation for the landowner given that land valuation is based on capitalized net income, which in turn is based on the book of accounts and financial statements of a farm “prior to the taking.’’

“Landbank has to open the book of accounts,’’ he said, adding: “This is easy to survey. The issue is which part of the land should go to whom.’’

The government was committed to distribute the land, Delos Reyes said.

“The position of the government has not changed. The position is to distribute the land on the ground that the stock distribution option is defective,’’ he said. “The President has made it clear that the law should be implemented.’’