ANGELES CITY- The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) lamented yesterday Pres. Aquino’s “one-liner” on Hacienda Luisita in his State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) as indication of his family’s intent “to circumvent land distribution” in the estate.
Reacting to the President’s SONA, the KMP also expressed disappointment over his failure to bring up the issue of rice price hike and the return of the “coco levy” fund to planters.
“The one-liner on Hacienda Luisita is enough proof that the Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR) raffle draw or tambiolo system is a ploy by the President’s family to circumvent the distribution of the vast sugar estate,” KMP said.
The KMP was referring to a three-sentence paragraph in the SONA reporting the completion last February of the list of qualified land reform beneficiaries at the hacienda and citing that the identification of lots for them has already started last week. He also said the lands are expected to be distributed by this September.
“Aquino’s one paragraph on Hacienda Luisita in his SONA shows that the deception and coercion inside the hacienda enjoys the blessings of the President. It is enough proof that the deceptive tambiolo system and the forcible and coercive promissory note signing is a maneuver by the Cojuangcos and DAR to circumvent the distribution of lands to the farmworkers,” said KMP Chair Rafael Mariano.
Mariano also alleged that “the DAR itself is threatening and blackmailing the farmworker beneficiaries with disqualification if they do not sign a promissory note.”
The promissory note guarantees compensation for the Cojuangcos who had owned the hacienda since 1957.
Mariano said “the DAR intentionally disregarded the farmworkers’ demand for collective ownership because it is against the will and interest of the Cojuangcos.”
”Collective ownership could hinder the re-concentration of lands to the hands of the President’s family,” Mariano noted. Already, there are reports that some beneficiaries plan to sell the lands yet to be awarded to them.
”Parceling out Hacienda Luisita into small farm lots or at a measly half-hectare each is easier for the Cojuangcos to reclaim. The DAR only preserved the backward and small-scale production that favors big landlords like the Cojuangcos,” Mariano lamented.
He stressed that “Hacienda Luisita farmworkers are not simple beneficiaries. They are already the owners of the lands. The hacienda’s distribution should be beyond the bounds of the sham comprehensive agrarian reform program.”
The KMP also assailed the President for “having no solution to the increasing prices of rice and the small coconut farmers’ demand for the immediate return of the coco levy funds.”
He noted that last July 9, rice prices in Metro Manila increased by P1-P2 per kilogram. Recent reports also said that in Cebu, rice prices increased by P4 per kilo and that even the price of broken rice has gone up from P30 to P34 per kilo while the National Food Authority sells its rice at P32 per kilo and corn grits at P27 per kilo.
“The absence of a concrete solution to the increasing prices of the Filipino people’s staple food is tantamount to approval of the illegal and arbitrary manipulation of prices by rice cartels,” Mariano stressed.
“The P32 well milled rice released by the NFA in the market did not influence the high prices of rice. Instead, the NFA only contributed to nailing the lowest price of rice to P32,” Mariano added.
At the same time, the KMP also noted that “Aquino did not mention anything about the return of the multi-billion coconut levy funds.”
“We are alarmed by the President’s continuing silence on the controversial coco levy funds.
The absence of any policy on the multi-billion coco levy fund in his SONA strengthens our fears that the Aquino administration is scheming to use small coconut farmers’ money as a ‘pork barrel’ and for highly unacceptable and anti-small coconut farmer programs like the graft-ridden conditional cash transfer program,” he said.
In a pastoral statement issued on SONA’s eve, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) also expressed concern over the coco levy fund issue, he noted.
