ANGELES CITY – Farmer leaders in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac vowed yesterday to get all 4,915 hectares of the Luisita estate awarded to them recently by the Supreme Court, including some 184 hectares previously sold by the Cojuangco family to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).
They now want the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to reverse its earlier order converting the land classification of the RCBC area from being agricultural to industrial in favor of the bank.
The Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA), backed by its umbrella organization Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL), said “we are firm and determined to work out for the revocation of the conversion order issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform in favor of RCBC in 1996.”
AMGL chairman Joseph Canlas said that the property covered 184 hectares in Barangay Balete within the Hacienda Luisita which the Cojuangcos sold to RCBC in the early 1990’s.
He recalled that on August 14, 1996, the DAR approved the application for conversion of a 500-hectare land in the hacienda from agricultural to industrial use.
AMBALA said, however, the conversion order “merely allowed the HLI to transfer land to other family-owned corporations that are also major HLI stockholders.”
In December 1996, the HLI ceded 300 hectares of the 500 hectares to Centenary Holdings, Inc., also a stockholder. The remaining 200 hectares was transferred to Luisita Realty Corporation in 1997 and 1998.
Canlas said that later, the Centenary sold the 300 hectares to Luisita Industrial Park Corporation (Lipco).
Subsequently, in November 2004, Lipco transferred the 184 hectares of the 300-hectare to RCBC as payment for its loan obligations.
“After the November 22 Supreme Court unanimous decision, the farm workers are asserting their rights over the entire 4,915- hectare agricultural land including those claimed by RCBC after the Cojuangco family sold it to the bank through the Lipco,” Canlas told Punto.
Felix Nacpil, chairperson of AMBALA, said that the RCBC has been “asserting itself as a new landlord” in the 300-hectare area which the DAR later allowed to be converted from being classified as agricultural to commercial.
“RCBC knew all along that the ownership of the entire hacienda was under question and yet went on to purchase the land from the Cojuangcos,” Nacpil noted.
The Cojuangcos purchased the hacienda from a loan from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in 1957, on condition that the estate would be turned over to its farmers after 10 years or up to 1967.
This was one of the arguments the farmers had asserted in their bid to own the estate which was finally awarded to them by the Supreme Court last Nov. 22.
Nacpil stressed that “we are very eager to win back the RCBC land and we caution DAR Central office to be fair in its decision (on our petition).”
He noted that the RCBC never developed the 184 hectares within five years after the DAR issued a land conversion clearance and this, he noted, should “automatically lead to the declaration of the clearance as null and void.”
Canlas noted that on the other hand since July 16 last year, farm workers have been cultivating the RCBC land on their own to provide them with livelihood, despite objection from RCBC. Police forces failed to drive away the farmers who built camps in the area to protect their plantations.
“Hacienda Luisita farm workers are facing a new stage of struggle against a big transnational corporation RCBC whose interest is to rake profit from speculatively investing on disputed lands,” said Canlas.
“RCBC is a newbie in facing a peasant struggle. It seems that they have no knowledge of the farm workers’ resilience to continue their struggle even after being massacred on November 16, 2004. They are beefing up their security posts at Barangay Balete,” he added.
For his part, Nacpil warned that “RCBC should also be aware that Hacienda Luisita farm workers could always divert its protest in front of their main office if they continue their illegitimate and immoral claim of the land at Barangay Balete.”
The land purchased by the RCBC was also covered by the Supreme Court verdict ordering land distribution at the hacienda.
In its ruling, the court also ordered the Cojuangco-controlled Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) to pay the 6,296 beneficiaries a total of P1,330,511,500, broken down as follows:
– P500 million received by the HLI for the sale of 200 hectares out of the 500 hectares covered by an August 14, 1996 conversion order;
– P750 million received by the HLI’s subsidiary, Centennary Holdings, Inc. for the sale of the remaining 300 hectares from the 500-hectare land; and
– P80,511,500 paid by the government for the sale of the 80.51-hectare lot used for the construction of the SCTEX road network.
The court said three percent of the proceeds of the transfers shall be deducted from the total amount of P1.3 billion.
The farmers, however, want the 184 hectares back, although they have not commented on whether they would, as a consequence, forego with the payment to them as ordered by the court.
