Luisita-deal critics told: Wait for SC decision

While maintaining a hands-off stance, Malacañang advised critics to wait for the Supreme Court to settle the validity of a compromise agreement between the management and farmers of Hacienda Luisita, Inc. in Tarlac province. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda made the call even as he insisted President Benigno Aquino III – whose family owns the hacienda – never took part in a alleged “bribery" of farmers. “Let’s leave it to the Supreme Court to determine the validity and legality of the compromise agreement. Wait for the decision. Until such time, you can raise any opinion for or against, [but] it's the Supreme Court that can decide on it with finality," Lacierda said on government-run dzRB radio. He also insisted Aquino had no part in the dole-outs for the hacienda’s farmers. Critics of the compromise agreement branded the "financial package" as a form of exploitation. “Let me be clear. The compromise agreement arrived at between Hacienda Luisita, Inc. management and farmers was a contract, the president had no hand in that," he said. On the other hand, Catholic bishops disagree over controversial settlement signed on August 6 by farmers of Hacienda Luisita. While some bishops questioned several aspects of the agreement, others chided critics of the deal and insisted the decision should be left to the farmers. “Kasi sila affected dyan eh ... Kung akala nila ito ang makakatulong sa kanila, hayaan na lang natin (The farmers are the ones directly affected. If they think the agreement will help them, let them decide for themselves)," Tarlac Bishop Florencio Cinense said in an interview on Church-run Radyo Veritas. Excerpts of the interview were posted Saturday on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news site. Last week, 70 percent of the over 10,000 farmers opted for retaining their stocks in Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) instead of claiming parcels of land from the 1,366 hectares of the plantation’s 6,433 hectares. The farmers’ stock shares represent 33 percent of the company. Cinense said he cannot blame the farm workers for choosing the stock distribution option (SDO) where they become stockholders and have work than having land but cannot make it provide for their needs. “Eh, kung yun ang gusto ng mga tao ... you cannot make injury to somebody who is willing. Kung iyan ang gusto nila, ano magagawa natin (If that is what they want, you cannot interfere with someone who is willing. If that is what they want, what can we do)?" he said. Earlier, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo asked President Aquino to interfere in the mess, warning him against remaining “neutral" over the compromise deal. “To serve the interest of justice, we appeal to President Benigno Aquino III to fulfill his pro-poor platform of governance by implementing the agrarian law and by not honoring the compromise deal that ran counter to the constitutional mandate that the entire 4,415 hectares of land should be distributed to the plantation farmers. The President cannot feign neutrality in this issue, for his silence and inaction will mean an implicit endorsement of the unjust compromise deal orchestrated by Cojuangco-owned HLI," he said in a statement posted on his blog. “If land reform cannot be implemented in Hacienda Luisita, we see no possibility of implementing it in any place at all. Hindi na kami pwedeng mangarap ... sa pagpapatupad ng tunay na katarungan para sa mga mahihirap (We can no longer dream of justice for the poor)!" he added. Pabillo said the Department of Agrarian Reform should carry out this initiative in the spirit of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), in partnership with “legitimate" farmers’ and workers’ organizations. “We believe that the social justice agenda of the Aquino administration will be loudly spelled by the decisive intervention of the President to push for the rights of the farmers over and above the sinister attempt of the Cojuangcos to retain ownership of the CARP-able hacienda," he said. Pabillo said the case of the reported compromise deal in the 21-year dispute in Hacienda Luisita was taunted as a breakthrough in the issue. He added the deal could have been a cause for celebration “if not for a number of questionable processes and highly inequitable terms contained in the said agreement whose reported approval of the farmers was brokered by the company itself, the HLI." Pabillo noted that in 2005, the directive from the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) explicitly called for the redistribution of 4,415 hectares of the 6,500 hectarage under the CARP. Implementation of this order was stalled by the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) granted by the Supreme Court. “But the present compromised agreement totally disregarded the DAR order and made the farmers accept the lopsided sharing scheme – with the farmer-beneficiaries being offered only 33% of the land or only 1,400 hectares out of the 6,500-hectare property. Clearly, this arrangement is disproportionately in favor of the HLI and totally contradicting the social justice intent of the law," he said. In effect, he said the farmers will end up owning very small parcel of the land for the sprawling land estate would be divided among 10,502 CARP beneficiaries, based on the list submitted by Hacienda Luisita management. He added the list itself actually needs meticulous scrutiny and verification. Pabillo said the compromised agreement also made provision for the implementation of the SDO scheme, which is already revoked by DAR in the same order in 2005. “The SDO scheme is unacceptable for it is an outright circumvention of the agrarian provision for land distribution. And it is worth mentioning that in the 21 years of implementing the SDO, the scheme had not lifted the farmers out of their impoverished and vulnerable state," he said. — LBG, GMANews.TV