ANGELES CITY- The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) asked yesterday the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) seeking clarification on auditing issues pertaining to the high court’s 2011 order to distribute lands in Hacienda Luisita.
The KMP and Ambala instead asked the SC to order the DAR to immediately implement land reform in the estate owned by Pres. Aquino’s family, as the court had ordered way back in November, 2011.
KMP and Ambala were referring to the DAR’s petition seeking from the SC clarification on the issue of which firm should do the auditing of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI).
The auditing procedure is in relation to the high court’s order in November 2011, to distribute to farmworkers some 4,335 hectares of the hacienda lands owned by Pres. Aquino’s family.
The court also ordered HLI to give the farm workers P1.33 billion as their share from HLI’s sale of 580 hectares of lands within the hacienda, and this required auditing of the firm which has earlier reported to have declared it no longer had enough funds.
KMP and Ambala noted that in petitioning the high court on the auditing issue, the DAR raised four issues, including the alleged need for unanimity among all parties in choosing the auditing firm. The DAR named the parties as “HLI, Ambala, Farmers for Agrarian Reform, Inc. (FARM) and/or Noel Mallari and Supervisory Group of HLI.”
DAR had earlier accused the farm workers of being in conflict among themselves in the choice of auditing firm.
But in commenting on the DAR petition, KMP and Ambala noted that HLI, as the party to be audited, “is deprived of the right to choose the auditing firm to audit its own books. This is to maintain the independence of the accounting firm and regularity of the accounting process.”
Contrary to the DAR’s claim that the farmworkers were divided on the issue, KMP and Ambala maintained that they had previously already chosen the Ocampo, Mendoza and Leong Lim Co. (OMLL) as the auditing company of their choice.
“The DAR did not approve of the farmworkers’ choice because of HLI’s objection and instead filed the (clarification) petition before the Supreme Court,” KMP and Ambala said.
They stressed that “it is not Ambala that delays the process but DAR,” adding that “clearly, DAR by its actuations shows that it is biased in favor of HLI.”
KMP and Ambala also lamented that while the DAR seemed to zero in on the choice of auditing firm, it has failed to look into reports that the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) has issued valuations for only 3,396 hectares instead of the 4,335 hectares of hacienda lands that the SC ordered for land distribution.
They also noted that the valuation as almost P70,000 per hectare as land reform “compensation” for the President’s family, contrary to the 1989 valuation estimating only about P40,000 per hectare.
The KMP and Ambala, however, have insisted that the President’s family deserved no compensation for land reform at the hacienda, as they noted historical information that the family had signed agreement with creditors that they were supposed to have turned over the lands to the farmworkers way back in 1967.
