Farmers ask SC to expedite Hacienda Luisita ruling

A group of farmers picketed in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday to ask the magistrates to swiftly decide on the decades-old land dispute involving Hacienda Luisita, a sprawling sugar estate in Tarlac owned by the family of President Benigno Cojuangco Aquino III. Hacienda Luisita farmers from the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), joined by other farmers groups, said that the high court's decision was long overdue. UMA secretary general Rodel Mesa cited Chief Justice Renato Corona's pronouncements last January that the decision on the case will be out soon. "But up to now, the Supreme Court has yet to make the landmark decision," said Mesa. "Honorable Chief Justice, please allow us to remind you and all members of this collegiate body that there is a saying that justice delayed is justicce denied," he added. The Hacienda Luisita land row has been among the high-profile cases tackled in court's en banc (full court) sessions. The high court is set to determine whether the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) is valid and whether the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) has the authority to revoke the deal that allowed farmers in 1989 to pick SDO instead of land. Hacienda Luisita is a 6,435 hectare sugar estate in Tarlac owned by the Cojuangcos, the family of President Benigno Aquino III's late mother, former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino. The stock distribution option (SDO) has been existent since 1989, when Hacienda Luisita Inc. forged an agreement with thousands of its farmers who preferred stocks instead of land. But in Dec. 2005, during the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) ordered the revocation of the SDO deal it did not fulfill the 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law's thrust of social justice and improved lives for farmers. In August 2010, HLI and factions of farmers' groups signed a new compromise agreement giving the farmers the chance to remain as HLI stockholders, or receive their share of Hacienda Luisita land. Many voted to retain their stocks and receive cash from HLI, only to complain later that they got minuscule amounts. A faction of the farmers’ groups, on the other hand, asked the SC to junk the compromise deal because it was signed even before the high court could rule on the validity of the stock distribution option. The rival faction also questioned the authority of the signatories in the agreement to represent the plantation’s farmer-beneficiaries. Hacienda Luisita Inc. then haled the PARC order to the Supreme Court and said that the revocation of the SDO deal violated the 1987 Constitution. In Feb. 2006, the SC issued a temporary restraining order in favor of HLI, which prevented the PARC from ordering land distribution. — TJD, GMA News