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Luisita land, 1-M hectare others, up for distribution


More than one million hectares of agricultural land, including the Hacienda Luisita plantation estate owned by the President and his relatives, have to be distributed to farmer-beneficiaries before 2014. Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac is a 6,453-hectare land owned by President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III and the Cojuangco clan. Three Cabinet members— Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje— already discussed on Tuesday how to speed up the process of distributing the land and providing support services to farmers. "Meron ho tayong hanggang 2014 upang ito'y gawin, kaya ating ginagawa, pinagsasanib-sanib natin ang pwersa ng DA, DAR at DENR upang ito'y matupad," De los Reyes said in an interview over GMA News' Unang Hirit on Thursday. The original Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) was extended last year for another five years. CARP, a land reform law mandated by Republic Act 6657, was signed in 1988 by the late President Corazon Aquino, the incumbent President’s mother. Hacienda Luisita was placed under the CARP stock distribution option (SDO) scheme in 1988.
Through the SDO scheme, farmers managed to own 33 percent of Luisita's shares of stocks while the rest are still controlled by Hacienda Luisita Inc., whose incorporators are relatives of the Aquinos. In 2005, the DAR and the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) canceled the SDO, which placed 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 (TRO) from the Supreme Court in 2006, preventing the DAR and PARC from carrying out their ruling. De los Reyes said the land will be distributed to properly identified farmer-beneficiaries when they receive a go signal from the Supreme Court. "Ito ay pinag-aaralan natin ng mahusay, yun nga po di matuloy natin yung distribution gawa nga po nitong kasi nga nasa Korte Suprema (We are studying this carefully, but we can't proceed with the distribution because of the pending Supreme Court case)," said De los Reyes. Farm workers of Hacienda Luisita asked the Supreme Court last year to lift the TRO, saying that the high court “is legally, morally and politically mandated to carry out the cause for agrarian justice and social emancipation." The case is currently being handled by the First Division of the high court, chaired by Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, who had been at odds with the incumbent president. Corona said Wednesday that he has already ordered the magistrate assigned to write the decision on Hacienda Luisita to "speed up" the case. “We will attend to it. In fact, I have been in touch with the ponente and prodded him to speed up the study of the case," he said in an interview after attending a Red Mass at the Manila Cathedral on Wednesday. “The ponente is not yet ready with any decision so it has not yet been calendared or put on the agenda for discussion," added Corona. Aquino has promised that Hacienda Luisita land will be distributed to farmers before the extended CARP expires. –VVP, GMANews.TV

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