‘Luisita ruling can still be appealed’

Former President Corazon Aquino’s family can appeal to President Arroyo the decision of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) to subdivide Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, Malacañang said yesterday.

Following an investigation of workers’ complaints, the PARC revoked the stock distribution option (SDO) plan that has governed the relationship between farm workers and the estate’s management since 1989.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the Cojuangco family, which controls the sprawling 4,915-hectare sugar estate, can still take the "political option" by bringing their case to the Office of the President (OP).

"The OP would not wish to get involved at this stage in determining the fate or in the resolution of the issue on the revocation of the SDO of Hacienda Luisita so that should the matter be brought to the OP, we’ll be able to conduct a review in a very intelligent manner without having been preempted by its participation in the deliberation of the PARC," he said.

Ermita said appeal to the OP is the usual "administrative route" taken by parties who do not agree with a decision of the PARC.

"The fact alone that there is that included in the process, the appeal process goes all the way to the OP, that’s the administrative aspect of the deliberation of the case, and nothing would prevent the parties affected from going through the course of action of asking for a resolution at the highest level, that is, the administrative remedy," he said.

However, Ermita said the Cojuangco family may also contest before the Supreme Court the PARC decision to set aside the SDO and place Hacienda Luisita under land reform.

Malacañang would have to await the Supreme Court’s ruling if the Cojuangco family decides to elevate the case to the high tribunal, he added.

Meanwhile, the management of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) raised concerns yesterday over the newly forged wage package and other benefits for its farm workers after the PARC decided to subdivide the sugar estate.

Lawyer Vigor Mendoza, HLI spokesman, said the Cojuangco family became worried after reading newspaper reports about the PARC’s decision.

"What will happen now with their benefits, especially the P50-million a year hospitalization benefits for the farmers?" he said in a telephone interview. "This is the paramount issue right now for the Cojuangco family."

Mendoza said he doubts if a majority of the 5,000 farmer beneficiaries at Hacienda Luisita were consulted on the SDO’s cancellation.

"The company wants to know the true pulse of the people," he said.

"The company is always optimistic that the agrarian reform issues will be resolved. For the last 15 years we were able to talk things out, to talk about the problems. The labor issues we were able to resolve in just one year."

Mendoza said there should have been negotiations first because the farm workers approved the SDO through a referendum in 1989.

"We want it for the best interest of the majority of the people and we want it to be always in accordance with the law," he said.

"We are not fixated over the land; we are willing to work with them. Like I said, the company is prepared for any eventuality."

Mendoza said since the labor dispute had already been resolved last Dec. 8, the resolution of the land dispute was already underway. There have been backroom negotiations to resolve the land reform issue, he added.

Mendoza said HLI was created as a consequence of the SDO.

"What will happen now to the employer-employee relationship?" he asked "There will be a dilemma on the employer-employee relationship."

Mendoza said the labor and land dispute are intertwined because there would be no land dispute if not for the labor dispute.

"Although the issues are separate (from each other)... the two are intertwined by the contract, the memorandum of agreement (MOA) forged between the farmers and the management in 1989," he said.

Mendoza said the Cojuangco family is reviewing possible legal action to take against the PARC resolution.

The HLI has yet to receive the copy of the PARC resolution on the cancellation of the SDO and the order to place the vast sugar estate and sugar mill for compulsory acquisition under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), he added.

Mendoza said they would undertake "a swift and fast (legal) action" against the PARC decision so the issue would not affect the employer-employee relationship between Hacienda Luisita and the farm workers.

The SDO’s cancellation would have adverse effects on the wage and benefits package of the farm workers, he added.

Under the law, large estates subjected to land reform can either be subdivided among farmer beneficiaries or they can become stockholders of the corporation that owns the land.

In 1989, Hacienda Luisita workers agreed with management to become stockholders of the corporation while remaining farm workers.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman is set to issue today a notice for the vast estate to be covered by the government’s agrarian reform program.

The PARC resolution is already final and may no longer need President Arroyo’s signature because she has already inhibited herself, he added.

Hacienda Luisita would then be acquired by the government and distributed among the farmer-beneficiaries.

Late Tuesday, the PARC, voting 10-1, adopted the recommendation of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to cancel the SDO at Luzon’s largest sugar estate.

The DAR recommended the revocation of the SDO at Hacienda Luisita after its investigators found that the HLI committed many violations.

Ultimately, the DAR found, the SDO made the lives of farmer-beneficiaries more miserable.

Its implementation had become contrary to public policy, which is to promote the improvement of the lives and welfare of farmers, the DAR added.

The PARC is the highest policy-making body of the DAR. It is chaired by Mrs. Arroyo, while the DAR Secretary is the co-chairman.

The Council is comprised of representatives from farmers’ groups, landowners and secretaries of government departments implementing CARP. — Paolo Romero, Katherine Adraneda