MANILA, Philippines—An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has urged the Supreme Court to resolve at the soonest possible time the dispute over the distribution of the Hacienda Luisita, a 6,453-hectare sugar plantation in Tarlac owned by the family of President Aquino.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, head of the CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action said the continued delay in deciding the long-standing dispute between land owners and farmers might raise suspicions of “political motives.”
“We’re wondering why it’s taking long to be decided upon,” said Pabillo over Church-run Radio Veritas over the weekend.
“Hasn’t the case been studied yet or is it just waiting for an opportunity to be used for political bargaining?” he said.
The Supreme Court was supposed to decide on the legality of a decision by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) scrapping a 1989 stock distribution option (SDO) last week, he added.
But the magistrates of the high tribunal deferred making a ruling after failing to come up with a decision on how to cast their vote on the case.
The SDO was allowed in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) enacted by Mr. Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon Aquino in 1988 to implement a campaign promise to uphold social justice.
Under CARP, landowners can only retain only seven hectares. But large agri-corporations are given several options, among them the distribution of stocks instead of land.
The Department of Agrarian Reform had allowed Hacienda Luisita to take the SDO option. But in 2005, it revoked its approval. The issues have gone to court.
Last year, the Hacienda Luisita management struck a compromise deal with its workers, offering them a choice of either to retain their shares of stock or get parcels of land from 1,366 hectares of the plantation.
The Catholic Church urged the high court not to legitimize this deal, saying that it would set a bad precedent to other landowners across the country.
“We are worried about the Supreme Court because it has yet to decide on the long-standing Hacienda Luisita row,” said Pabillo.
The bishop added, “We are calling on the high court to decide on the case based on the law and not on political compromises.”
He added that issuing a ruling on the Hacienda Luisita controversy would prove the Aquino administration’s sincerity to implement the Comprehensive Agrarian Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER), which was passed in August 2009.
The Hacienda Luisita issue is a thorny issue for the Aquino family. In 2004, the bloody dispersal of a protest action at the hacienda led to the deaths of seven protesters.
Mr. Aquino had said he owned only a small portion of the family estate and would abide by any decision of the court.
Several Catholic bishops have been advocating the distribution of Hacienda Luisita as a form of social justice. This issue, aside from the reproductive health bill, has placed the Catholic Church on a collision course with President Aquino.
Last week, the bishop of Butuan called for Ms Aquino to step down after the opposition in Congress called for an investigation into graft charges against government officials known to be personally close to the President—his so-called “KKK” or kakampi, kaklase at kabarilan (partymates, classmates and shooting buddies).
Aquino’s allies hit back, saying the bishop has been a close ally of previous president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.