Corona challenged to lift prohibition on Luisita land distribution

Newly-installed Chief Justice Renato Corona should prove his mettle by lifting the temporary prohibition on the distribution of Hacienda Luisita land, which is owned by the family of leading presidential bet Senator Noynoy Aquino. In a statement, a militant farmers' group challenged Corona to act immediately on Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI)'s case barring the distribution of the 6,435-hectare sugarcane plantation to farmer-beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law. “The lifting of the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court on the Hacienda Luisita’s distribution is the first acid test for Chief Justice Corona to prove his mettle," said Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, who also chairs the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas. The plantation was placed under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)'s stock distribution option (SDO) scheme in 1988, during the term of President Corazon “Cory" Aquino. Through this scheme, farmers were able to own 33 percent of Luisita's shares of stocks while the rest are still controlled by HLI, whose incorporators are relatives of president-apparent Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. In 2005, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) canceled the SDO, meaning the lands would be placed under the compulsory coverage or mandated land acquisition scheme of the CARP. However, the HLI managed to secure a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court in 2006, preventing the DAR and PARC from carrying out their ruling. Mariano said farmers fear a dismissal of the case once Aquino assumes the presidency. “We call on the SC to put a stop to the half a century old feudal injustice suffered by farmers at the hands of the Cojuangco-Aquinos," he said. Aquino promised during his campaign to ensure the distribution of Hacienda Luisita land to farmer-beneficiaries before June 2014, the expiration of CARP extension law, after all the plantation's debts are paid so that farmers would not be burdened financially. - LBG, RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV