'Courts to decide just compensation'

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is leaving it up to the courts to determine just compensation for the owners of Hacienda Luisita following the Supreme Court (SC) order of distributing the land to the farmers.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said yesterday that President Aquino would not intervene in the valuation, even as he spoke about just compensation for the landowners under the Agrarian Reform Law.

Valte added the courts would make the valuation of the land and the amount that would be paid to the landowners.

“That is not something that is (in) our control nor is it something that is up to us to decide,” Valte said over radio dzRB.

Aquino had said landowners “should not be stripped of their landholding without compensation.”

“They can use the compensation as capital for other industries, which can generate more jobs,” he said.

“I hope those two objectives are met, and not just one sector is favored at the expense of the other,” he added.

Aquino said that even if he is the President and the most prominent member of the Cojuangco-Aquino clan, he has no choice but to make sure the SC order is complied with.

“They decide on a question of law, there should be compliance. I don’t think that’s optional,” Aquino said.

Aquino declined to comment on the SC decision, saying he has yet to get hold of a copy of the ruling.

Militant farmers, however, assailed Aquino for his remarks.

Randall Echanis of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said the Cojuangcos “do not deserve just compensation.”

“The Cojuangcos have long benefited from their hold of Hacienda Luisita and the farm workers’ have long paid for the land,” he said.

Echanis said the Cojuangcos used government money to acquire the hacienda in the late 1950s and have made a fortune for more than half a century.

“And now, they want the government to pay for the lands... the just compensation demanded by the Cojuangcos must be opposed not only by Hacienda Luisita farm workers but by every Filipino taxpayer,” Echanis said.

He said Aquino’s statements over the issue “clearly manifested his family’s position and exposes his landlord character.”

“With that, the Hacienda Luisita farm workers’ struggle for the free distribution of lands is still a long way to go,” Echanis said.

The KMP also assailed the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) as “a sham,” saying that once farmers fail to pay their amortizations, the lands awarded to them are confiscated and reverted back to the landlords. - With Rhodina Villanueva