DAR officials meet with Luisita tenants

HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac, Philippines—As agrarian reform officials met with the tenants at Hacienda Luisita, emotions ran high with farmers struggling to come to terms with the complications of land distribution and the ramifications of the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona on their landmark Supreme Court case.

About 200 employees of the Department of Agrarian Reform led by Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes fanned out to the 10 villages inside the 6,000-hectare sugar estate owned by President Benigno Aquino’s relatives to conduct town-hall style meetings to explain to the farmers the nitty-gritty of the November 2011 decision of the high tribunal that gave them right to the land.

Late last year, the court ruled 14-0 that the estate, which belonged to the Cojuangco family, a politically powerful clan that produced two presidents and a national hero, should be distributed to 6,296 farmer-workers who have tilled the land for decades, making the Central Azucarera de Tarlac a sugar powerhouse in the country.

The high court also declared that the stock distribution option exercised by the family was not in the spirit of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform law, which was enacted by the late President Corazon Aquino, the current President’s mother.

The non-distribution of Hacienda Luisita, the largest estate that exercised the SDO option under CARL, was a thorny issue for the late President and continues to hound her son today.

De los Reyes said DAR’s first visit to Hacienda Luisita, which has never received agricultural interventions from the government, was aimed at clearing the misconceptions of the residents and managing their expectations as their legal battle is not yet over.

“We want to explain the SC decision. It is not yet final, but we want the people to know the decision. This is their first contact with DAR. We will try to answer all their questions,” De los Reyes said.

“Hacienda Luisita is one of a kind. We want to know their opinions and suggestions. At the end of the day, this is their land,” he added.

Farmers who trooped to barangay halls and schools in the 10 barangays on the estate greeted the DAR employees, who were armed with booklets and a video presentation explaining the court’s decision, with a barrage of questions. In many instances, farmers voiced skepticism and were leery of the government’s pronouncements.

DAR officials said the farmers wanted to know when the Supreme Court’s decision would become final. Those interviewed by the Inquirer said they feared the Corona impeachment would affect the land’s legal status.

Corona, who was appointed to head the Supreme Court by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is now under house arrest for electoral sabotage, is accused of being biased for Arroyo.

One farmer, Luisito Buwan, said they fear that Corona’s ouster would pave the way for a reversal of the November 2011 ruling, which is currently under appeal.

“Kung mawala si Corona, baka mawala na rin kami (If Corona is gone, we would be gone too),” he said. “14-0 na ang desisyon, dapat sa amin na ang lupa (The decision was 14-0, the land should be ours).”

Most of the questions thrown to the DAR employees involved how the land would be distributed and what they could do about it once the decision becomes final. Farmers also wanted to know what would happen to the 4,000 farmers who live on the Hacienda but were not included on the list of would-be beneficiaries.

De los Reyes said these questions will be answered by the Supreme Court. He said DAR hopes that the high tribunal declares the ruling final and executory in six months so that they could do a survey of the land and the beneficiaries.

In Barangay Lourdes and Barangay Mapalacsiao, farmers refused to sign the attendance sheet given by the DAR.

Francisco Dizon, a spokesman of AMBALA-ULWU, one of the farmers’ unions inside the estate, explained that government officials in the past used their signatures in attendance sheets without their consent to prove that there are workers inside the hacienda who favored SDO.

To appease the farmers, DAR gave the attendance sheet to a union member in Barangay Lourdes, who promptly tore it apart to the cheers of fellow residents. De los Reyes said they wanted the residents’ cell phone numbers so that DAR could reach them directly. As to the attendance sheets, De los Reyes said these were not important.

De los Reyes said it was understandable that the farmers were wary of the government since their case has dragged on for years. Despite the wary reaction, the DAR chief said their visit  was a “good start.”

“The communities want direct contact with the DAR. The people are interested,” he said.

De los Reyes also dismissed allegations that the consultation with the Hacienda Luisita tillers was a rebuke to Corona’s statement that the campaign to oust him was a ploy to force the Supreme Court to reverse their November 2011 decision.

“With all due respect to him, we planned this before he was impeached,” De los Reyes said. He  expressed confidence that the court would not reverse what was a unanimous ruling.

“With the vote they got, and it was on a second motion, it narrows the gap for them to reverse. I’m confident that the court will not reverse itself as far as land distribution is concerned,” the DAR chief said.