SC has regained credibility, says CBCP’s social service action office

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court has “regained its credibility” with its decision to distribute more than 4,900 hectares of Hacienda Luisita land to over 6,000 registered tenants,  said Fr. Edu Gariguez, executive secretary of the National Social Service Action of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines on Thursday.

“It’s a long-awaited decision and a step forward for the Supreme Court to regain its credibility in proving that it can truly stand for the truth and justice,” Fr. Gariguez said.

“The SC decision has long been overdue. This is a victory not only for the workers at the Hacienda Luisita but for all the farmers,” he said. “With this development at Hacienda Luisita, we have a better hope for a genuine agrarian reform in the country.”

Owned by the influential Cojuangco family, Hacienda Luisita fell under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CAPP) promulgated in 1989. But the owners turned it into a “corporation,” which offered stock shares to farmers in lieu of land.

Eight years ago, the farmers  declared the stock-shares did not help to improve their lives and stage a strike to force the Cojuangcos to distribute the land.  The strike ended in a violent dispersal that left seven strikers dead.