Supreme Court reminds Luisita: Wait for court action

MANILA, Philippines - The compromise agreement between the sugar plantation Hacienda Luisita and its farmers does not automatically resolve their dispute pending before the Supreme Court (SC).

SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said there is the possibility that the high court would still act on the long-standing dispute between the management of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) and its farmers.

“Once the court assumes jurisdiction over a particular case, a petition filed would not be moot just because a compromise has been reached among the parties. The case would still be subject to the final review of the court,” Marquez explained.

While the SC would take into consideration the agreement in ruling on the case, Marquez stressed the court would still tackle the arguments and issues submitted by parties to be able to set jurisprudence on similar cases.

Marquez gave assurance that the court would review the compromise agreement and make sure it would be beneficial to both parties.

He said there have been previous deals submitted to the SC that were found to be one-sided.

Marquez cited as an example the August 2006 compromise agreement between the state-run Philippine National Construction Co. and the British Virgin Islands-based firm, Radstock Securities Limited, which the SC voided in December 2009.

Marquez said the SC still has the mandate to review the compromise agreement between HLI and its workers if it is just and equitable.

Possibly, Marquez said, the high court could honor the agreement and adjudge the case as moot.

Marquez said the magistrates would discuss the case in full-court session tomorrow.

He added the oral arguments set by the SC on Wednesday would still proceed unless ordered otherwise by the justices.

Last week, militant farmers of HLI submitted a letter to Chief Justice Renato Corona urging the SC to resolve the case and proceed with the oral argument even after the deal was signed with the HLI.

Wilfredo Marbella of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Edna Velarde of the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura said it is now up to the SC to take decisive action on cases involving agrarian disputes all over the country, starting with the HLI agreement.

The HLI submitted the agreement along with a motion urging the SC to approve and consider the deal with the farmers as a positive step towards the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The SC took over the question on the legality of the stock distribution option (SDO) scheme under the memorandum of agreement signed between HLI and the farmers in 1989.

The SDO plan was recalled by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) and then Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman in 2005 following complaints that the scheme defeated the purpose of CARP and put them at a disadvantage.

The HLI immediately filed a petition before the SC in February 2006 seeking the invalidation of the DAR order recalling the SDO agreement.

The HLI also sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) to enjoin the government from distributing the sugar estate to the farmers under the CARP.

Under the CARP’s compulsory or mandated land acquisition scheme, the government will pay the landowner the cost of the property that will be distributed to the farmers.

Under the CARP, the land value of Hacienda Luisita will be assessed to determine the cost.

But the farmers and the HLI ended their decades-long dispute by signing an agreement on Aug. 6 that would allow the farmers to own a patch of the estate or continue the SDO scheme as stockholders of the sugar firm.

The SC was told by HLI that the parties have entered into a deal and “amicably settled their differences” on the belief that the agreement “will further improve the quality of lives of the farm workers in Hacienda Luisita.”