CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Alyansang Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) denied yesterday the claim of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) of faithfully complying with the order of the Supreme Court to implement land reform at Hacienda Luisita, formerly owned by the Pres. Aquino’s family.
AMBALA Chairperson Florida Sibayan reminded Agrarian Reform Sec. Virgilio de los Reyes that the Supreme Court decision “specifically orders DAR to find other agricultural lands in Hacienda Luisita and include these lands for land distribution.”
She cited a specific provision in the April 24, 2012 final and executory decision of the SC which said that while only 4,915.75 hectares out of the more than 6,000 hectares of Hacienda Luisita should be coverable, “it should be taken into account that this should not prevent the DAR, under its mandate under the agrarian reform law, from subsequently subjecting to agrarian reform other agricultural lands originally held by Tadeco that were allegedly not transferred to HLI but were supposedly covered by RA 6657 (Comprehensive Land Reform Law).”
Tadeco refers to the Tarlac Development Corp. which was renamed Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) which has remained under the control of the President’s family. It is now claiming that over 200 hectares of the hacienda were exempt from land reform.
Sibayan cited that the mention of only 4,915 hectares our of more than 6,000 hectares of Luisita lands “points to how the Cojuangco- Aquinos, in collusion with the DAR, through illegal acts of land conversion, has maneuvered to
retain more than a thousand hectares of lands.”
These include properties of other Cojuangco- owned companies such as those now controlled by the Luisita Realty Corporation (LRC) covering 382.5451 hectares, Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) covering 373.909 hectares, Luisita Golf and Country Club (LGCC) covering 78.8823 hectares, and the Tadeco covering 586 hectares, she noted.
Sibayan also said “these lands are generally still very much agricultural in nature even as some parts may have already been used for some other purposes through land conversions that were never legally approved by the DAR.
The DAR only approved the conversion of 584 hectares of land.” “The DAR should have distributed 5,756.4776 hectares instead of only 4,099. The farm worker beneficiaries were robbed of an additional 1,657.4776 hectares of land,” she said.
Sibayan said AMBALA has already submitted last April 15 to the Tarlac DAR office a letter requesting that the 1,421.4776 hectares of land be distributed to the farm worker beneficiaries based on the Supreme Court decision.
But she also added that “not much can be expected of DAR given its long record of conniving with the Cojuangco- Aquinos in implementing a sham land reform program in the Hacienda.”
“This includes encouraging Tadeco to forcibly and violently evict the farm worker beneficiaries in the 358 hectare lots in Barangays Balete and Cutcut together with the help of police and military personnel even if DAR had already issued a Notice of Coverage (NOC) on said lands,” she added.
