PCO photo
MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos on Monday released almost 219 hectares (ha) of farmlands within Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac province and condoned up to P12.1 million in dues that more than 300 farmers there owed the government.
The area is part of the estimated 4,200 ha of land in Tarlac that the President and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) awarded to beneficiaries as part of the government’s continuing effort to implement the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp).
In a speech, Marcos called on the agrarian reform beneficiaries to make their lands productive, citing how their farming activities contribute to the country’s economic development.
READ: Marcos tells agrarian reform beneficiaries: Enrich our lands
“I have just one request from you: the award of these parcels of land to you goes with it the responsibility to nurture it, not only for your own benefit but for that of the whole nation,” he said in a speech during the distribution of titles in Paniqui town.
Hacienda Luisita is a 6,453-ha sugar estate covering 11 villages in Tarlac City and La Paz and Concepcion towns, that was part of farmlands belonging to the Central Azucarera de Tarlac owned by the Cojuangco family.
The distribution of farmlands within the hacienda had stirred controversy due to its exclusion from the Carp coverage, supposedly due to the influence wielded by the Cojuangco clan, whose members included the late former President Corazon Aquino and her late son, former President Benigno Aquino III.
Stock option
In 1988, Corazon Aquino signed Republic Act No. 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, allowing the distribution of shares of stocks instead of land. The Cojuangcos availed of this option, with the family’s Tarlac Development Corp. (Tadeco) forming Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI).
The following year, two referendums on the stock distribution option (SDO) were held. Several farmworkers alleged they were forced to agree to it. Some 4,915 ha were converted into shares, with Tadeco owning 67 percent and farmworkers in the 1989 master list controlling 33 percent.
In 2003, 5,000 farmworkers filed a supplemental petition seeking the revocation of the SDO and the distribution of lands to them.
In 2005, the DAR recommended the revocation of SDO. By December, the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council issued Resolution No. 2005-32-01 that recalled/revoked the SDO plan of Tadeco/HLI and placed the lands covered by SDO under the compulsory coverage of Carp.
A 2011 ruling by the Supreme Court declared 4,500 ha of land under HLI as part of CARP.
In 2019, then-President Rodrigo Duterte criticized the exclusion of Hacienda Luisita as “the greatest anomaly” in the government’s pursuit of social justice.
Condoned
During Monday’s event, Marcos issued certificates of condonation with the release of mortgages (Cocroms) to 357 Hacienda Luisita farmers.
“We are here today as we continue to heed your needs so that you can build better lives and a more stable future,” he said.
At the event, the DAR distributed a total of 4,663 Cocroms to 3,527 agrarian reform beneficiaries from different towns in Tarlac, releasing them from their debts.
The Cocroms condoned P124 million in debt that the farmers owed from the government, Mr. Marcos said, as he reiterated his administration’s commitment to working with and aiding agrarian reform beneficiaries. —with a report from Tonette Orejas