Aquino laments absence of copy of SC ruling on Hacienda Luisita

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino lamented yesterday that the Supreme Court (SC) came out with a ruling to distribute lands to thousands of farmers from their Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, but did not provide any party with a copy of its decision.

“I would want to answer that we will implement this by such and such a time. Unfortunately, the roadmap is yet to be disseminated by the SC,” he told reporters in a chance interview at Bongabong, Oriental Mindoro. 

“We have to know what we are being tasked to do. And that is not yet clear. The last time I asked, we don’t have hard copies of their decision,” Aquino said, at the same time committing that they will implement the court ruling.

Until now, he said the executive department and the Department of Agrarian Reform, which is a party to the case, have not received yet a copy of the ruling.

“Can I just rely on to what the Secretary of Agrarian Reform said, that we, the executive (department), are prepared to enforce the law and to carry out the instructions of this decision?” he told reporters.

He said that from 1989, from the inception of the stock distribution option (SDO) up to the present, a vast majority wanted that option.

“I understand there was another survey, informal survey done and a significant portion still wanted to continue in that manner with changes,” he said, although admitting that this is already “water under the bridge.”

“Remember that the Agrarian Reform Law was passed and this was expanded under my mom’s term. That was her flagship project. So as her son, somebody who believes in our ideology, we owe that one to empower farmers,” he said.  

The only issue left, according to Aquino, is that his family wants that the plight of Hacienda Luisita farmers taken care of sufficiently, especially because they have been with them since 1958.