FINAL SUPREME COURT RULING ON LUISITA
OUT TODAY
[PHOTO - Jose Midas
Marquez, the court's administrator and spokesperson, told reporters that the
15-member tribunal was expected to resolve appeals, five months after it
unanimously ordered the dismantling of the hacienda.. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO]
MANILA,
APRIL 24, 2012
(INQUIRER) By Marlon Ramos - Hacienda
Luisita farmers may finally see the conclusion of their decades-old struggle to
own the sprawling sugar plantation in Tarlac province owned by relatives of
President Benigno Aquino III.
The Supreme Court is expected to deliver on Tuesday its final verdict on the
ownership dispute over the 4,915-hectare agricultural estate during its en banc
session at the close of its annual summer session in Baguio City.
Jose Midas Marquez, the court's administrator and spokesperson, told
reporters that the 15-member tribunal was expected to resolve appeals, five
months after it unanimously ordered the dismantling of the hacienda.
"It was taken up [during the April 17 en banc session] and again it will be
taken up [Tuesday]… So, most probably, we will have a ruling [Tuesday]," Marquez
told reporters.
An official of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), however, said that
the tribunal may not be able to resolve the issues Tuesday as it had asked the
department to submit by May 7 comments on matters raised by Hacienda Luisita
Inc. (HLI).
HLI said it was hoping that the rift between impeached Chief Justice Renato
Corona and
Mr. Aquino would not affect the justices in ruling on "just compensation" for
the company.
Antonio Ligon, HLI counsel and spokesperson, said the Cojuangco-owned firm
was expecting the magistrates to consider the legal arguments it raised in
challenging portions of the ruling the court handed down on Nov. 22, 2011.
In that decision, the tribunal ordered the total distribution of the hacienda
to 6,296 registered farm worker-beneficiaries and pegged the just compensation
to HLI based on the hacienda's market price in 1989.
"We still believe in the integrity and independence of the Supreme Court as
an institution," Ligon told reporters in a chance interview.
Corona-Aquino conflict
Asked if HLI was anxious that the conflict between Corona and the President
may affect the court's ruling, Ligon said: "If we allow ourselves to be
disturbed by that, then we will only bring chaos to our system."
As to Corona's claim that the high court's November 2011 ruling was the main
reason the President wanted to unseat the Chief Justice, the HLI lawyer said:
"We just hope that the rest of the justices who did not share that belief would
not be affected."
"I don't think [Corona's impeachment] should affect the court as an
institution," Ligon added. "As counsel of HLI, I will give due respect to the
court."
2006 market value
Instead of the 1989 market price, the court should have pegged the value of
the hacienda at its fair market value in 2006, the year then Agrarian Reform
Secretary Nasser Pangandaman issued the "notice of coverage" for the sugarcane
plantation, Ligon said.
He said the right reckoning period was 2006 when the notice of coverage was
issued.
"And if you are to be very strict about it, the reckoning period should only
start at the time the government is making the payment to the landowner, which
is only now," Ligon said.
Include home lots
The HLI lawyer said the court should include the valuation of the "home lots"
which the HLI had given to farm worker-beneficiaries who availed themselves of
the stock distribution option (SDO) as part of the total compensation for HLI.
"If the SDO was considered null and void, therefore any benefits arising from
being a shareholder should not take effect. Those home lots should be taken
back. That's just fair," Ligon said.
"[The government must] pay the landowner for that because they will have no
[reason] to give those home lots since the SDO was [revoked]," he added.
In a previous interview, Marquez said the right compensation for HLI must be
based on Hacienda Luisita's 1989 market price.
"The Supreme Court has declared that the just compensation for Hacienda
Luisita was the Nov. 21, 1989, rate," Marquez said.
He said that 10 of the 14 justices, who participated in the deliberations,
agreed with the ponente, Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., that the
valuation of the lands should be computed according to the prevailing rates when
Hacienda Luisita implemented the stock distribution scheme on Nov. 21, 1989.
Marquez said three of the justices had argued that just compensation for the
landowners should be determined by the DAR and Land Bank of the Philippines.
Sereno's stand
Only Associate Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, the President's first appointee to
the high court, believed that the compensation must be pegged at the Jan. 2,
2006, rate.
"This should be the guideline of DAR in setting the just compensation (for
Hacienda Luisita). The decision of the majority should be respected," Marquez
said.
"Based on this guideline, the DAR will have to check the 1989 rates. Then the
DAR can already decide how much is the just compensation."
A TV network earlier reported that the expropriation of the sugar plantation
owned by the President's relatives may reach P5 billion, an amount that the DAR
denied.
Mr. Aquino himself believed that owners of agricultural lands covered by
agrarian reform should be "rightly paid."
"Agrarian reform has a second part. Let us not deplete capital. That means
there should be just compensation so that the owners of land do not end up
having their land taken from them, that they be rightly paid," said Mr. Aquino,
who has repeatedly claimed he had given up his share in the estate.
"The capital that is returned to them can be invested in other industries
that can help add more jobs in the country," he said.
Originally posted: 9:28 pm | Monday, April 23rd, 2012
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
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