ANGELES CITY – The Alyansa ng Manggagawang Magbubukid ng Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) announced yesterday an indefinite “camp out” at the central office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) amid its demand for the agency to refrain from holding any referendum on the stock distribution option (SDO) at the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.
“The DAR’s mandate is to process land distribution and not organize such referendum that is totally contradictory to land reform,” said Joseph Canlas, chairman of the Alyansang Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luson (AMGL), the umbrella organization of AMBALA.
Last July 5, the Supreme Court junked a verdict in 2005 of Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) and the DAR revoking SDO in the hacienda owned by the family of Pres. Aquino.
The high court also ordered the holding of another referendum among the hacienda’s 6,000 workers to determine their choice between land distribution and shares of stocks under SDO.
“If DAR pushes through with the referendum, it will be the end of its quiet time at their central office in Quezon City and President Noynoy Aquino’s headache will not be remedied by any paracetamol,” said Canlas.
He urged DAR officials “to apply caution on their action” as he stressed that “the department should actually be pushing its decision to revoke the SDO as it had decided through the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council Resolution 2005-32-01.”
“DAR should defend its earlier decision against SDO and not contradict itself,” he added. Canlas noted that the high court’s verdict last July 5 was opposed by Chief Justice Renato Corona “who affirmed that agrarian reform means land distribution and absence of such would lead to a social volcano.”
He also noted that while the President had vowed to keep off the issue, the holding of a referendum already has mechanisms to favor the Cojuangco-Aquino family.
“The referendum has no check-and-balance mechanism and has no guiding and thus could be readily manipulated,” Canlas said.
Canlas said “the Aquino government should prove itself of sincerely serving the interest of poor Filipinos by leading the distribution of Hacienda Luisita to the farmers.”
The AMGL has insisted that land distribution at the hacienda remains the only legal option with historical basis.
It recalled that the Cojuangcos purchased the hacienda in 1958 through a loan from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Manufacturers’ Trust of Company of New York, guaranteed by the Central Bank of the Philippines.
“This was under the condition that the lands would be under agrarian reform in 10 years time under the framework of the government’s social justice program,” Canlas said.
