Congressional inquiry sought into Luisita ‘sham’ deal

(Updated 6:39 p.m.) Two militant peasant groups on Sunday called on the Senate and the House of Representatives to look into the so-called compromise settlement reached between the Cojuangco-owned Haciena Luisita Inc. and its farmer-beneficiaries. At the same time, a party-list lawmaker called on farmers across the country to launch “widespread protests" to condemn what he described as “the latest maneuver of the Cojuangco-Aquinos" to retain the stock distribution option (SDO) scheme in Hacienda Luisita. “This brazen maneuver by the Cojuangco-Aquinos deserves the strongest condemnation from the Filipino peasantry. The Luisita sham deal sets the direction of [President Benigno Aquino III’s] land reform program under his administration — a continuing anti-farmer, pro-landlord and pro-agribusiness type of land reform," says Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, who is also chairman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). He was referring to the agreement, forged last Friday, giving 10,000 farmers the option to retain their stocks in HLI or get their free land in the disputed 6,453-hectare sugar estate in Tarlac province. The deal was seen as a big development in the land dispute that has dragged on for more than 20 years. Hacienda Luisita is owned by the Cojuangco family, or the maternal relatives of President Aquino.
Congress must investigate KMP, which claims to have 15 regional and 65 provincial chapters nationwide, together with Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA), are asking the leaders of the two houses of Congress to initiate a “full-blown" investigation into the agreement. “We humbly submit this proposal to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte to initiate a full-blown investigation on how the questionable deal was reached the HLI management and some leaders who misrepresented the 10,000 farmer beneficiaries during discreet negotiations," the two groups said in a joint statement released Sunday. They also asked the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to wield its influence and persuade President Aquino, a devout Catholic, to convince his family to abort the deal. The groups said senators and congressmen should cross party lines and conduct a deeper investigation on the land deal. KMP and PAMALAKAYA are allied with factions of Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid ng Hacienda Luisita (AMBALA) and the United Luisita Workers' Union (ULWU) that are opposing the deal. The compromise agreement states that HLI’s 12,000 farmer-beneficiaries can now opt to continue owning stocks in the corporation based on the SDO deal signed 21 years ago. They can also choose to have a share in a designated 1,400-hectare portion of land in the plantation. Lawyer confident SC will void deal AMBALA laywer Jobert Pahilga said his group is confident that the Supreme Court will nullify the compromise settlement. “We are confident that the Supreme Court will void this deal [and] declare that it is invalid," Pahilga told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. As of Saturday, about 4,000 of the 10,000 farmer-beneficiaries voted to retain their stocks under the corporation's SDO. The referendum for the deal is expected to end on Sunday. Pahilga reiterated that the deal is illegal because one of the its signatories, Noel Mallari, is no longer affiliated with the group. “We want to cite him (Mallari) in contempt for misrepresentation because he is no longer with AMBALA, but with the group he put up — FARM-Luisita," said Pahilga. Mallari had earlier insisted he has represented AMBALA before the Supreme Court ever since their president, Rene Galang, stopped performing his duties in 2005. Pahilga said AMBALA and ULWU will file a joint petition asking the court to strike down the deal once HLI and those party to the agreement submit their manifestation that a compromise deal has been reached. For his part, HLI spokesperson and independent counsel Tony Ligon said HLI is yet to submit its manifestation to SC. He also urged the deal’s critics to respect the farmer-beneficiaries’ decision to keep their stocks. “Sa ating pinaniniwalaan, kahit sinong tinig ay dapat irespeto (I believe that any voice should be respected)," Ligon told GMANews.TV in a separate phone interview. Pre-empting oral arguments? The SC set for August 18 the oral arguments for HLI’s 2006 petition against the orders of the Department of Agrarian Reform (PARC) and the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) to distribute some 4,915 hectares of the land to the farmers and to cancel the SDO scheme. The scheduled oral arguments will determine whether the SDO scheme will be retained, or if the land will be distributed to the farmers under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). On Sunday, Pahilga said the “questionable" deal was meant to pre-empt the SC's oral arguments. “It is meant to pre-empt the judgment of the Supreme Court. It may no longer decide on the validity of the SDO, but it will look into this agreement that has been made," he said. Earlier, an ULWU faction led by Lito Bais claimed the deal was deceptive because the farmers will only get a small portion whether in the form of land or stocks. He added that the process that produced the signed agreement was also illegal because the farmers were not represented by their lawyers. Palace seeks closure Malacañang, meanwhile, is hoping that the compromise agreement between HLI and the farmer-beneficiaries would be upheld by the SC so that there will be closure to the land dispute issue, which has been hounding President Aquino ever since the campaign period. “Right now the compromise agreement will still be submitted to the Supreme Court, so we leave it to the Supreme Court and again let me emphasize that President Aquino is not in any way involved in the negotiations or in the outcome of this compromise agreement. We welcome the development and we continue to hope that there would be a peaceful resolution to the Hacienda Luisita issue," said presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda in an interview on Radyo ng Bayan earlier in the day. Lacierda said President Aquino has already divested interest in Hacienda Luisita but is monitoring the developments. Communications Group Secretary Herminio Coloma urged critics of the deal to give the compromise deal a chance and await the SC's ruling on the issue. - with Nadezhda Tañola/KBK, GMANews.TV