Luisita toll doesn’t need gov’t OK, says President Aquino’s uncle

CITY OF SAN Fernando—The Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) delivered on its commitment to build an access road inside its sugar estate in Tarlac, but never pledged to make it toll-free to users of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), one of the company’s owners said on Wednesday.

Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. said this was clear in the April 3, 2006, letter of his elder brother, Pedro, president of the HLI, to Narciso Abaya, then head of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA). BCDA owns the 94-kilometer SCTEx that was built on a 58-billion yen loan.

Cojuangco, an uncle of President Benigno Aquino III, issued the statement as motorists bewailed HLI’s collection of a P20 “service fee” starting Tuesday from vehicles using the San Miguel access road to reach SCTEx.

Lawyer Arnel Casanova, BCDA president, said the agency saw Pedro Cojuangco’s letter as HLI’s commitment to provide a counterpart in the project since the Luisita Industrial Park is within the estate.

Part of the letter read: “In connection with the need for a road that will connect the [Luisita] interchange of the SCTEx with the Luisita Parkway, we would like to assure the BCDA that HLI stands committed to the construction of such a thoroughfare and determined to finish the same simultaneously with the completion of said interchange, fully aware of the immense value and advantage that the project will bring to all parties concerned.”

What the HLI did, said Cojuangco, was add 2.5 km to the existing 5-km road within the estate’s stretch in Barangay San Miguel in Tarlac City. This road leads to and from the interchange.

“The entire road is private property. The toll is for maintenance and repair,” he said.

Casanova said while the BCDA considered the road “private property and not part of the right-of-way the agency bought for the SCTEx, it is our understanding that it’s for public use.”

“The purpose of the interchange is to connect Luisita, Clark and Subic ecozones and make SCTEx their backbone,” he said.

He said concerns over the HLI toll should be addressed to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), not BCDA.

Cojuangco said HLI did not seek permission from the TRB since the road was private. “We only collect from those who pass through on their way to SCTEx, which is only an exit to Clark and Subic, not to the north,” he said.

Luisita farmers, investors and residents are spared from paying, Cojuangco said. “TRB has no jurisdiction over Luisita because it’s a private land,” he said.

Cojuangco pointed to subdivisions in Canlubang, Laguna, where motorists pass through to reduce travel time. These motorists, he said, pay toll.

“Or else, who will maintain the road? Eventually, it’s going to be damaged,” Cojuangco reasoned

At least 4,000 vehicles take the Luisita interchange. SCTEx has interchanges in Concepcion and La Paz towns, also in Tarlac.