CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Documents from the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) have indicated that the government has pegged at about P67,957.21 per hectare the amount farm workers have to compensate the family of Pres. Aquino for land distribution at the Hacienda Luisita.
This is contrary to the Supreme Court’s decision in April last year, ordering that the value of the estate be based on a valuation made in 1989, and not on a higher valuation based on 2006 prices sought by the Cojuangco family, then owners of the sugar plantation, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said.
The Supreme Court, in a decision in November 2011, ordered land distribution at the hacienda. The decision was rendered final and executory in April last year.
The high court’s ruling did not encompass an actual price for the sugar estate, although the 1989 value of the 4,335-hectare Hacienda Luisita was estimated at P173 million or only about P40,000 per hectare.
The KMP also noted that while the high court’s ruling covered 4,335-hectares of the hacienda, the LBP valuation covered only 3,394 hectares.
The group cited an LBP certification and two memoranda to Agrarian Reform Sec. Virgilio de los Reyes referring to the land valuations.
The first memo dated May 6, 2013 refers to a “certification of deposit” amounting to P34 million for compensation to the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) covering only 497-hectare portion landholdings. The certification was signed by LBP acting head Rafael Berbano.
The certification referred to cash worth P8.6 million and bonds worth P25.3 million “as compensation for the landholdings” covering 494.9 hectares at Hacienda Luisita.
An LBP memorandum dated last May 14 cited land valuation worth P74.1 million covering another 1,093.5 hectares at the hacienda and another memorandum dated the following day, May 15, citing valuation worth another P122.4 million for yet another 1,804.9 hectares of the estate. Both memos were signed by LBP first vice president Alex Lorayes.
The documents cited only 3,394 hectares of the estate which, the KMP noted, indicated that the value of the estate was placed at P230.6 million or about P67,957.21 per hectare.
KMP secretary general Antonio Flores said that “the Land Bank valuation is way beyond the 1989 valuation of Hacienda Luisita that was pegged at P40,000 per hectare.”
“This is another grave injustice to the farm workers. They are the ones who cultivated and developed Hacienda Luisita while the Cojuangco family who have enriched themselves sitting down for almost six decades will be compensated and paid by the farm workers with hundreds of millions,” said Flores.
He stressed that “the Cojuangcos do not deserve to be compensated even a single cent.”
Flores also said that “based on the memos, the DAR who commissioned a so-called survey of the lands, have excluded more than 941 hectares from the 4,915 hectares supposedly to be distributed.”
“All along, the Cojuangcos are fooling the farm workers and the Filipino people. The farm workers worked on the more than 6,000 hectares of Hacienda Luisita and now they are saying that only 3,394 will be distributed,” Flores said.
