Conspiracy of silence

Conspiracy of silence | Daily Tribune

The Court of Appeals (CA) recently released its 25 April decision regarding Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

The court ordered the Department of Agrarian Reform and the state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines to pay HLI, owned by the Cojuangco family, a head-spinning P28.49 billion as “just compensation” for a portion of the estate, or 4,500 hectares, expropriated in 1989 under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The amount is a bonanza for the landed clan to which former Presidents Cory Aquino and Noynoy Aquino belonged, since the CA award dwarfed earlier figures bandied about.

The CA also reversed other earlier court decisions. Skeptics noticed the timing of the release of the ruling, which came shortly before the midterm elections.

Hacienda Luisita, a 6,453-hectare sugar estate in Tarlac, has been a flashpoint in the struggle for land reform. It was acquired by the Cojuangco family in 1957 through a government loan, the terms of which included the distribution of the estate to the tenant farmers.

The Cojuangcos, among the country’s most powerful political and economic dynasties, maintained control of the vast property through legal and political maneuverings.

Republic Act 6657, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), in 1988 under President Cory Aquino introduced the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) that allowed landowners to distribute shares of stock to their tenants instead of land.

The CARL was designed to protect colossal estates such as HLI from redistribution. Under the SDO, the Cojuangcos issued shares to the tenants, but they retained control of the land.

In 2004, 14 farm workers were killed during a protest against the SDO and working conditions in what went down in history as the Hacienda Luisita Massacre.

In 2011, the Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Renato Corona, ordered the distribution of 4,500 hectares to farmer-beneficiaries and set the compensation for the Cojuangcos at P196.6 million, based on the 1989 valuation when the land was placed under CARP.

The High Tribunal’s ruling sought to rectify the circumvention of the CARP under Aquino. The valuation was significantly lower than what HLI demanded based on current market value.

The CA’s recent ruling marked a dramatic reversal of prior valuations, or a 150-fold increase over the 2011 SC valuation.

CA cited Section 17 of the Agrarian Reform Law, which mandates “just, fair, and substantial” compensation, to grant a 12-percent interest payment from 1989 to 2013 and 6 percent from 2014 to 2025.

In effect, the CA ruling overturned the Tarlac Regional Trial Court, the Department of Agrarian Reform adjudication board, and even the Supreme Court that placed the land value at P304 million plus P167.4 million in interest.

The result: 96 percent of the bonanza to HLI, or P27.3 billion, consisted of interest accrued since 1989.

The Cojuangcos’ corporate vehicle, Tarlac Development Corp. (Tadeco), sold the land to HLI for P196.6 million, or P40,000 per hectare, which then suggested an undervaluation to minimize farmer payouts under the SDO.

The windfall is funded by the Agrarian Reform Fund, which is funded with public money.

Strangely, not a peep was heard from the government regarding the huge payout while the yellow mob has lost its voice against excesses in government, such as the resurrection of the pork barrel in the national budget.