Farmers set on fire 300 hectares of Luisita

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga, Philippines – Local farmers allegedly set fire to a portion of the sugarcane field at Hacienda Luisita that is owned by the family of President Aquino in Barangay Balete, Tarlac City where P1-million worth of crops were destroyed last Friday morning.

Police are investigating the alleged involvement of Barangay Balete councilmen Pual Mallari and Hilario Hipolito, Leonila Halili, Dominador Salian, all of Barangay Balete and Felix Nacpil of Barangay Mabilog, Concepcion, Tarlac. The suspects reportedly led at least 30 farmers that started the blaze.

Investigators said 300 hectares of surgarcane were burned out of the 6,000-hectare plantation owned by Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), which is owned by the Aquinos and Cojuangcos.

Hacienda Luisita Independent Planters Association, Azucal Inc. and other farmers from Sugarcane Farming Agricultural Corp. are currently renting the sugar plantation from HLI.

The police is also investigating the participation of some members of local farmers’ associations.

The Tarlac police and HLI fire trucks responded to the fire that started at 10:30 a.m. and firefighters were able to put out the blaze after five hours.

Felix Nacpil Jr., chairman of the Alyansang Magbubukid ng Asyenda Luisita (Ambala), said the group had celebrated the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) that nullified last month the stock distribution plan and ordered the distribution of land to the farmers.

Nacpil said the Hacienda Luisita farmers were jubilant after the SC ordered HLI to distribute the more than 6,000 hectares of land to some 5,000 peasant farmers of the plantation.

He called on the Cojuangco family to distribute the land to the legitimate beneficiaries as soon as possible.

“We are very hopeful that they (HLI owners) would respect the SC’s decision,” Nacpil said.

Meanwhile, HLI asked the SC yesterday to reconsider the court’s ruling issued last Nov. 22 that fixed the payment for the 4,915.75-hectare plantation on the valuation of the land in 1989, when the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) approved its stock distribution plan.

In a 45-page motion to clarify and reconsider, the HLI prayed that the reckoning period for the fixing of the just compensation on the agricultural land should be at the issuance of the Notice of Coverage on Jan. 2, 2006.

In the alternative, the reckoning period should be left to the Land Bank and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to determine as an integral part in fixing the just compensation, HLI said.

The HLI also prayed that legal interest should be paid on the just compensation from the time of the reckoning period up to the time of actual payment.

They also asked the Court that just compensation should be paid to the landowner, Tadeco, for the homelots distributed to the farmers. – With Sandy Araneta