CJ sees retaliation from P-Noy over final Luisita ruling

MANILA, Philippines - Chief Justice Renato Corona stood by his vote for the distribution of the sugar land estate owned by President Aquino’s family in Tarlac with the lower amount of just compensation.

And after refusing to inhibit in the case, the embattled Supreme Court (SC) chief is expecting another retaliation from the President.

“Sigurado (For sure), the administration will get back at me,” Corona said in a text message.

The justices of the high court had affirmed their November ruling last year and pegged the just compensation based on the fair market value of the land in November 1989.

They voted to dismiss the motion for clarification and reconsideration filed by Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), which sought to place the amount of just compensation based on the value of land at the time the notice of coverage was issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) on Jan. 2, 2006.

The notice was pursuant to the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council resolution recalling the approval of the stock distribution plan.

It was also confirmed yesterday that the SC ruling is final and executory.

The 1989 valuation came from a separate opinion submitted by Chief Justice Corona. Seven other justices agreed with him when they voted during their summer session in Baguio City last Tuesday.

“That is social justice as ordained by the Constitution,” Corona stressed.

Six other magistrates dissented from the majority ruling and held that the valuation should be left to DAR for proper determination.

Hundreds of farmers who trooped to the SC compound in Baguio City to await the ruling of the high court cheered in support of the Chief Justice, whom they branded as “champion of agrarian reform.”

Corona, however, declined the honorific. “I am not a champion. We just did what is right and fair,” he said.

HLI reportedly wanted to push for a compensation of P5 billion based on 2006 valuation, but its lawyer Tony Ligon already denied this and said that only DAR and the Land Bank of the Philippines would be able to come up with the exact figure.

Should the value of the estate be based on “comparable sales” such as those transacted by HLI, the Cojuangcos’ corporate entity, the farmland would fetch P2.5 million per hectare, the family claimed.

In other words, Hacienda Luisita would be worth P9.75 billion or 90 percent of a comparable price based on a DAR formula.

Last month, Corona revealed that the Cojuangco family wanted P10 billion in compensation, which he vehemently opposed during deliberations of the case in the high court.  – With Christina Mendez