DAR: Luisita distribution completed in 6 months

MANILA, Philippines - The distribution of the 4,915.75-hectare Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac to over 6,000 farmworker-beneficiaries is halfway through, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has reported.

At least 5,365 farmers are in a master list and 1,221 have been placed on a provisional list.

In a report to the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday, the DAR said it has complied with the order for the distribution of the land to the original 6,296 farmworker-beneficiaries as the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) had directed in December 2005.

Speaking to reporters, Agrarian Reform Undersecretary for legal affairs Anthony Parungao said they had tapped a special team to look for the farmer-beneficiaries over the past six months, immediately after the SC ruling became final and executory last April.

“We are confident in the full compliance to the Supreme Court order in another six months or by May or June, just right after the midterm elections,” he said.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes said those placed in the provisional list had deficiencies in documentary evidence to prove the validity of their claim as agrarian reform beneficiaries in Hacienda Luisita.

They will be given sufficient time to prove the validity of their claims, he added.

De los Reyes personally led field DAR personnel in Tarlac in posting the preliminary master list and provisional list at the covered courts of 10 barangays in Hacienda Luisita.

He also handed over the lists to representatives of farmers’ groups who attended the event.

The master list includes the names of persons that DAR had assessed to be qualified as farmworker-beneficiaries, or their heirs if deceased.

A farmworker in the preliminary master list can be awarded a piece of land in Hacienda Luisita, unless an interested party can provide proof that he or she is not a qualified beneficiary, De los Reyes said.

A total of 8,641 had initially applied and claimed to be farmer-beneficiaries or heirs.

After months of verification and checking on records – including the list that Hacienda Luisita had submitted to the SC; Social Security System records of employees of Tarlac Development Corp. in 1989; and voters’ list in the 1989 referendum on the voided stock distribution plan – the DAR was able to come up with a preliminary master list of 5,365 qualified beneficiaries.

In addition, 1,221 other applicants needed to submit additional documents to prove their claims. They have until Nov. 30 to submit the necessary documents.

Before the identification of farmer-beneficiaries, the DAR first completed the process of segregation from the Hacienda Luisita agricultural land of the 500-hectare converted lot and the 80.51-hectare lot that the government had acquired for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

After coming up with the final master list, DAR would work on compliance with the payment of just compensation to Hacienda Luisita and to farmer-beneficiaries for the P1.33 billion that the hacienda had earned from selling the converted land.