CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Militant groups condemned yesterday the Supreme Court’s reversal of its decision ordering the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) to pay 6,296 farm workers some P1.3 billion as their share from the sale of over a thousand hectares of lands which were supposed to be covered by land reform.
“This sudden turnabout of the High Court in its 2011 verdict is suspicious. The original verdict was the aftermath of the farm workers’ 10- year struggle against the stock distribution option in Hacienda Luisita, and of the Court’s arduous deliberations that took about seven years when it decided in 2011 and 2012, “ said Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Ariel Casilao in a statement.
Casilao expressed dismay that “now the Supreme Court is absolving HLI of its obligation to compensate the poor farm workers.”
He said “it’s like rubbing salt into the wound, considering that justice has never been rendered to the seven martyrs of the 2004 Hacienda Luisita Massacre.”
The Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and the Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra) have issued similar statements.
“We see confl icts of interest piling up one after the other,” Casilao said.
He noted that the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) under the Aquino administration rejected the audit firm of the plaintiff , the Ocampo, Mendoza, Leong, Lim & Co. (OMLL) and favored Reyes Tacandong & Co., endorsed by Hacienda Luisita, Inc. for the computation of the supposed compensation of the farmworkers.
“The Supreme Court decided to appoint OMLL in February 2014 but revoked it in December 2016, appointing Reyes Tacandong & Co instead,” Casilao recalled. He said that even in this case, Supreme Court had “succumbed to influences of big businesses with profi t-interests in Hacienda Luisita.”
Casilao also recalled the P2-billion change of ownership of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) from the Cojuangco family to Martin Lorenzo in June, 2015.
“Resulting from the deal is the joint venture CAT Resource and Asset Holdings Inc. (Crahi) between Martin Lorenzo and Fernando Cojuangco. Another is the March 2018 acquisition of Ayala Land Inc. of nearly 300 hectares inside the hacienda for an estimated P5.8 billion. Lorenzo needed to raise funds to pay for loans he used to acquire CAT which is due October 2019. The Lorenzo family is influential as it has presidential son-in-law Manases Carpio served as its legal counsel, “ he said.
Casilao lamented that “ultimately, Hacienda Luisita has become a fusion of profit-interests of the country’s oligarchs and landlords, the Cojuangcos, Lorenzos, and Ayala, and we are certain that this predisposed the absolution of the P1.3-billion liability of the HLI to the farm workers.
“ In July 2011, the Supreme Court ordered HLI to pay the farmworkers a total amount of P1.3 billion, 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, Centenary 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 case of Hacienda Luisita tells us that class exploitation and oppression is beyond political camps, and warring cliques are united to secure their vested interests, even at the cost of trampling due rights of poor sectors,” Casilao said.
