Oral arguments for Luisita case may be postponed — SC

The oral arguments for the land dispute case involving the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita estate may have to be moved to a later date from its original August 3 schedule, the Supreme Court said Wednesday. According to SC administrator Jose Midas Marquez, this was to give the petitioner, Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), more time to submit its list of stockholders and their corresponding shareholdings. “Pending the submission, it may be premature to hold [the oral arguments] on August 3. Most probably it might be moved to a later date," said Marquez, who is also the court’s spokesman, at a news briefing.

He said the court’s First Division will give HLI 15 days to submit the list. SC justices have already decided that the full court, or the court en banc, will handle the case instead of the First Division. The formal turnover, however, has yet to be done. Stock distribution option President Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III and his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, own a minority stake in Hacienda Luisita, a sprawling 6,435-hectare plantation in Tarlac province. In June 2006, the high court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) from executing a resolution subjecting the land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which Mrs. Aquino signed in 1987. To date, the SC has yet to revoke the TRO and the case has remained pending before the tribunal. HLI wants the restraining order to remain in effect, while farm workers and beneficiaries have been prodding the court to lift it. The court’s 2006 ruling allowed for the implementation of the stock distribution option (SDO) plan of the Tarlac Development Corp/HLI in an attempt to resolve the dispute between the Cojuangco clan and their farm workers. The SDO gives the farmer-tenants of Hacienda Luisita the option to get shares of stocks from the proceeds of the sugarcane plantation. Under this scheme, each of the farmers-tenants will get certificates of stocks instead of lands for them to till. The failure of the Luisita management to release stocks dividends prompted the farmer-tenants to seek the cancellation of the SDO scheme. The issue has been hounding Aquino even during the campaign. Plea to Aquino Earlier, Hacienda Luisita’s farmer-beneficiaries reiterated their call on Aquino to listen to their pleas. A statement on Wednesday said the farmers sent a letter to Aquino’s Times Street home in Quezon City to ask for the land’s distribution. The letter was sent on the same day the SC elevated the land dispute case to the court en banc. “Pinakikiusap po naming na kung maaari, kaming lehitimong manggagawang benepisyaryo ng Hacienda Luisita at ang pamilyang Cojuangco ang maguusap at hanapan ng paraan para mabigyan ng kalutasan sa mapayapang pamamamraan ang usapin sa loob ng Hacienda Luisita," the statement quoted the farmers as saying. (Our request is for us legitimate farmer-beneficiaries to be able to discuss this issue with the Cojuangco family.) Farmer leaders Jose Julio Zuniga, Windsor Andaya, Noel Mallari and Ildefonso Pingol signed the letter. Newsbreak article In a related development, Marquez described as malicious article of Newsbreak alleging that Chief Justice Renato Corona had a private meeting with Aquino’s uncle, Jose “Peping" Cojuangco Jr. in Cojuangco’s Makati residence. Marquez said no such meeting occurred. “This is not true at all. The chief justice has categorically denied this. No such meeting took place. It is unfortunate that something like this is being invented," he said. Cojuangco, brother of Mrs. Aquino, owns Tarlac Development Co., which owns 60 percent of HLI’s shares. The Newsbreak article came out Wednesday. “The purported meeting hits a sensitive note as the Court is set to decide on a case which could trigger or further delay the distribution of Hacienda Luisita to farmers," a portion of the article read. Marquez also denied Corona and Cojuangco sat beside each other at a recent party of Pwersa ng Bayaning Atleta party-list group. “The chief justice attended that dinner... The chief justice was ushered to the presidential table, and later on Mr. Cojuangco arrived. He was ushered to the same table but he sat across the chief justice but only briefly. He didn't know Mr. Cojuangco was going to be there," Marquez said. - KBK, GMANews.TV