DISUNITY STRAINS HACIENDA LUISITA
FARMERS / FIGHT FAR FROM OVER
[PHOTO - HARD TOIL: Thorns along
their path and the seething heat do not discourage farmers of Hacienda Luisita
in Mapalacsao village in Tarlac City from doing their daily work in the fields.
Last week, the Supreme Court upheld with finality their ownership of land
parcels in the sugar estate. EV ESPIRITU / INQUIRER NORTHERN
LUZON HACIENDA LUISITA, Tarlac City]
MANILA,
APRIL 30, 2012
(INQUIRER) By Tonette Orejas Inquirer
Central Luzon - Divided are the 6,296 farm workers, whose rights to own land in
this sugar estate owned by the family of President Benigno Aquino III have been
upheld by the Supreme Court.
Four groups represent them in the estate that in a year or so, depending on
the will and pace of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), will cease to be
owned by the Cojuangco clan.
Hostile to one another, the four groups—the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid
sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), Farm Workers Agrarian Reform Movement
(FARM)-Luisita, Association of 1989 Original Farm workers (AOF) and the
Lehitimong Manggagawang Bukid ng Hacienda Luisita (LMBHL)—offer different views
and plans on how they would own the land and make it profitable.
Court documents showed that Ambala was the sole farm workers' group in the
estate in 2003. It filed a supplemental petition asking DAR to revoke the stock
distribution option (SDO) under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
(CARP). The Cojuangcos' Tarlac Development Corp. and farm workers availed
themselves of the SDO through Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI).
Ambala then wanted the DAR to give the land to 5,000 farm workers.
One of the original petitioners was Noel Mallari, who broke away from Ambala. He
formed FARM-Luisita, but left it due to organizational problems. Later, he
organized the AOF.
Two months before Ambala filed the petition, supervisors of Hacienda Luisita
asked the DAR to revoke the SDO. Most of these supervisors now belong to LMBHL.
Strike
It was after the 2004 strike of Ambala and its mother union, the United
Luisita Workers Union (Ulwu), that the DAR revoked the SDO and placed Hacienda
Luisita under CARP coverage in 2005, a matter that the Presidential Agrarian
Reform Council (PARC) upheld in 2006 and which the Supreme Court affirmed twice
in its rulings in 2011.
Ambala is allied with the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan). FARM-Luisita, a chapter of FARM organized by
Akbayan, filed petitions in the Supreme Court to question the constitutionality
of the SDO.
Mallari is supported by the nongovernment organization Peace Foundation,
while LMBHL maintains ties with Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT), a mill in the
estate that is owned by the Cojuangco family.
Chance of unity slim
Ambala president Felix Nacpil Jr. said his group would not work with any of
the three groups as "all are being used by the Cojuangcos to stop land
distribution."
In separate interviews, FARM-Luisita president Renato Lalic, AOF president
Mallari and LMBHL vice president Marciano Viadan denied Nacpil's allegation.
"FARM-Luisita can unite with Ambala because we have the same cause,
which is to get land from the Cojuangcos," Lalic said.
Mallari said he had no problem cooperating with Ambala as long as the latter
would respect the AOF's position on issues related to land distribution in the
estate.
Viadan saw no prospects of uniting with Ambala. "They're leftists and
radicals and they impose their will on us," he said.
Ambala officials said their group had influence in the estate's 10 villages
covering Tarlac City and Concepcion and La Paz towns. The AOF made the same
claim.
The LMBHL said it had 50 members in each of the 10 villages.
FARM-Luisita said its 1,800 members were spread in Barangays Mabilog, Pando
and Parang in Concepcion and Motrico in La Paz. These areas, Lalic said, could
immediately become "pockets of land development" because the farm workers were
well organized.
As of Saturday, no group had initiated unification moves, at least even on
how to work with the DAR or monitor its implementation of the CARP in the
estate.
"We are looking forward to their cooperation so we can enhance and facilitate
the activity," said Filomeno Inocencio, DAR director in Central Luzon.
7,000 sq m per person
All the groups want "equal sharing" of the 4,334 hectares or what are left of
the 4,915 ha after deducting the 500 ha bought by Rizal Commercial and Banking
Corp. (RCBC) and 81 ha acquired by the Bases Conversion and Development
Authority (BCDA) for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).
This leaves each farm worker with more or less 7,000 square meters.
FARM wants 1,528 ha (the balance of 6,443 ha, purportedly the original size
of Hacienda Luisita) to be also distributed to farm workers.
Ambala has occupied a part of the 500 ha under RCBC, thwarting efforts by the
bank to fence off the property.
Collective, individual titles
Nacpil said it was in the long-term interest of farm workers that they hold a
collective title to the 4,334 ha. "The Cojuangcos or other parties will not have
a chance to recover the lands. We can protect the initial gains of agrarian
reform in Luisita if the title is collective," he said.
But Lalic said his members preferred individual land titles.
"If it is owned by a group, the farm workers will only have a new landlord,"
farmer Felix Amurao, 75, said.
Contiguous parcels
"What will keep the lands in the hands of the farm workers is when we
collectively till it. We will ask the DAR to consider locating the lands of
those with blood relations to be adjacent to one another so larger parcels are
available for mechanized farming," Lalic said.
Mallari said the AOF was pushing for individual titles and individual
production. He said the group could pool resources to till their farms.
The LMBHL wants its members to get contiguous parcels of land on which it
plans to plant sugarcane using machines to be rented from HLI or CAT or through
profit-sharing with the two firms.
Ambala and FARM-Luisita officials said their members had embarked on rice and
vegetable farming after the 2004 strike. They believed that the skills that the
farm workers acquired from these activities would help them make their lands
productive.
All groups trade accusations that they have leased out tracts of land to
sugar planters.
Ambala and FARM-Luisita are particularly cautious at this point, planning to
organize teams to monitor the verification of the 6,296 original farm workers
who signed the SDO in 1989. (See sidebar above.)
"We will be watchful of the 4,206 farm workers that HLI hired after 1989.
They might be made recipients of land and disrupt the land distribution
process," Lalic said.
He said his group was ready to assist DAR in determining whether the would-be
recipients were qualified beneficiaries.
The FARM-Luisita wanted the supervisors purged out of the list, which Viadan
opposed because they, too, were among the 1989 SDO signatories.
Women
Women are said to comprise more than half of the 1989 signatories to the SDO
memorandum. One of them, who said she was not a member of any group in the
estate, pinned her hope mainly on the DAR.
"I want to pass on the land to my children. It's the only possession I can
give them. I pray that the DAR would do its work and not betray us," said the
woman, who asked not to be named, fearing that organized farm workers' groups
would ignore her claim when the land distribution starts.
Luisita farmers: Now for the hard part by Ira
Pedrasa, ABS-CBNnews.com Posted at 04/25/2012 1:44 PM | Updated as of 04/25/2012
6:31 PM
MANILA, Philippines - More than 6,000 farmworker-beneficiaries may
already own 4,916 hectares of Hacienda Luisita, but problems may arise before
they can fully acquire and maintain them for their own use.
The government assured, however, that programs would be in place to help the
farmers reap the fruits of their decades-long toil in the sugar estate in
Tarlac.
In an interview with radio dzMM, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said
it's possible that the Cojuangco-led Hacienda Luisita Inc. may shut down its
sugar mill within the estate, which could pose problems for the farmers.
He said the farmers are more adept in growing sugar cane, a knowledge and
skill they have acquired over the decades. He also said the land is more
adaptable to sugar production.
Alcala said it would not be financially viable for the farmers if they will
look for other millers to process what they have cultivated.
In fact, at this point, the country has overproduction of sugar, volumes of
which are being exported to other countries.
"While [HLI] is thinking of closing down the mill, we already have to plan.
We're thinking of a change in crops," he said. He also said they will discuss
the matter with the managers of the sugar estate.
Alcala said he will meet today with Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los
Reyes to discuss the future of the farmers, which includes the distribution and
the survey of the lands.
Bloc farming, cooperatives
[PHOTO- IT may be a sweet victory after a half-a-century struggle
against feudal bondage at Hacienda Luisita, a sugar plantation in Tarlac owned
by the family of President Aquino and its relatives from the Cojuangco clan. But
the fight for its distribution to its 6,296 farmworker-beneficiaries is far from
over as the victors have to hurdle several obstacles before the 4,915.75-hectare
estate is finally parceled out to them. APRIL 28, 2012
BUSINESS MIRROR]
To provide continuous livelihood for the farmers, Alcala suggested "bloc
farming" that would allow farmers to maximize equipment that will be provided by
the government.
He said farmers could group their lands into 150 hectares and create
cooperatives. He also said the government is planning a "plant now, pay later"
scheme that would help farmers financially.
He said the government will not allow that the lands be left idle before the
beneficiaries get their certificates of ownership.
"I'm suggesting a semi-corporate plantation. The farmers will continue to
plant, and they will just divide later the income generated from their work," he
said.
Survey, census needed
De los Reyes, meantime, said it would take from six to at least a year before
the titles are transferred to the beneficiaries.
The government has yet to survey the land, including a census of who will get
which part of the distributed land.
The Supreme Court stood pat on its earlier decision pegging the valuation of
the land to 1989 rates, the year when the Cojuangcos lost ownership over the
lands via the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
It has yet to release the resolution, which should contain the formula by
which to compensate the managers of Hacienda Luisita.
"We need to open the books of HLI in 1989, I don't have an estimate how much
they earned then," de los Reyes said.
The payment of the just compensation will have to be shouldered by the
government via a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines. The farmers, in
turn, will pay the loan in ten years.
Possible foreclosure
He did not dismiss the fact that the loan may not be paid and the land be
foreclosed by Landbank.
He assured, however, that if the lands are foreclosed, these will not be
reverted back to the Cojuangcos.
He said a landowner can't buy more than five hectares of land under the CARP.
"There won't be a public auction anymore, foreclosed land will just be
re-allocated by DAR to the other beneficiaries," he said.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
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