Luisita farmers show proof of employment

Hacienda Luisita workers. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Close to 200 persons are seeking inclusion in the final roster of farmworkers who will receive land from the Hacienda Luisita sugar estate after the release last month of a preliminary master list of beneficiaries, according to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

But no one has yet filed for the exclusion of specific individuals, in spite of allegations by militant farmers that some of those on the list are “dummies,” Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes said in a statement.

As of Nov. 8, 197 individuals in the provisional list submitted additional evidence to support their claims that they were employed as farm workers at Hacienda Luisita, the vast plantation in Tarlac owned by relatives of President Aquino. Seven others have petitioned for inclusion on the list, the DAR said.

In May, the Supreme Court upheld with finality the decision of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council in 2005 to scrap a controversial stock distribution option and distribute 4,915 hectares of the estate to 6,296 farmworkers.

On Oct. 31, the DAR released two lists: A preliminary master list of 5,365 people who stood to receive land, and a provisional list of 1,221 others who needed to submit additional documents to prove they were legitimate beneficiaries.

The DAR said groups and individuals have until Nov. 30 to file “Petitions for Inclusion” or “Petitions for Exclusion,” or for those already on the provisional list, to submit additional evidence of employment as farm worker at Hacienda Luisita in 1989.

The final list of beneficiaries will be released in the first quarter of 2013.

For scrutiny and analysis

De los Reyes said the release of the preliminary list was intended precisely to “give all stakeholders the opportunity to scrutinize the list and analyze who they think should be included or excluded from the list.”

“The DAR is not hiding anything from the public,” De los Reyes said.

A statement from the leftist Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said five names on the preliminary list were not those of actual farmworkers but stable hands looking after the horses of the Cojuangco family, the owners of the hacienda.

KMP assailed what it described as the inclusion of “Cojuangco loyalists and dummies” in the list and questioned the integrity of the DAR’s verification process.

But De los Reyes pointed out that the KMP and other groups were welcome to raise their objections to the alleged dummies by petitioning for their exclusion.