President Noy’s biggest thorn on his side is the family-owned Hacienda Luisita, which he promised to divide among its farmers during the presidential campaign.
The 4,915.75-hectare sugar estate was excluded from his mother’s (former President Corazon Aquino) centerpiece project, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which distributed large agricultural landholdings to tenant-farmers
P-Noy reneged on his promise after he got elected.
It had to take the Supreme Court to give Hacienda Luisita’s farmers a chance to decide their future in a referendum.
The referendum among the hacienda’s tillers and sugar estate workers will decide whether they choose to own a piece of the vast landholding or continue to be stockholders of the corporation.
The Cojuangcos, P-Noy’s relatives on his mother’s side, went around the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, signed by then President Cory, by handing out to Luisita’s farmers and workers stock distribution certificates.
If the Cojuangcos continue to hold on to Hacienda Luisita, P-Noy’s credibility will be greatly eroded.
The President will then carry the image of a man who cannot keep his word.
His reason—that he’s only a minor stockholder of the Hacienda Luisita Corp.—is flimsy.
If he cannot convince his relatives to give up Luisita, how can he expect the people to follow his injunction to tread the “matuwid na daan,” or straight and narrow path?
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Justice Secretary Leila de Lima was beating a dead horse by announcing the “findings” of investigators that Hubert Webb was in the country during the Vizconde massacre.
Webb and his coaccused were acquitted by the Supreme Court last year after serving 15 years in jail.
Why is De Lima resurrecting a case that the high court has put a closure to?
Why isn’t she interested in the murder of broadcaster Gerry Ortega?
The suspects in the Ortega murder case, one of them former Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes, were exonerated recently by a panel of prosecutors from the Department of Justice.
There is a big possibility that some people were paid off as the evidence against the suspects is considered airtight.
De Lima’s move to resurrect the Vizconde massacre case is suspect.
Is she doing this to veer public attention away from the Ortega murder?
There are rumors that ex-Gov. Joel Reyes is a relative by affinity of a Malacañang official.
Rumors also have it that Palawan Gov. Baham Mitra is a godson of Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, the President’s father.
Mitra and Reyes are long-time buddies.
Unless the Ortega murder case is not resolved, rumors will continue to spread that would cast doubts on the Aquino administration.
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Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Jose Pidal” Arroyo has criticized Sen. Panfilo Lacson for reviving the Jose Pidal scandal.
Iggy Arroyo, brother-in-law of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, claimed ownership of the Jose Pidal bank account amounting to hundreds of millions of pesos.
Iggy allegedly covered up for his brother, former first gentleman Mike Arroyo, reportedly the true owner of the huge bank deposit.
Before Gloria became president, Iggy lived in an apartment and reportedly had a hard time paying the rent.
After he admitted owning the controversial bank account, and riding high on the controversy, he ran and won a congressional seat in Negros Occidental.