Morales throws out stock-sharing applications for CARP lands

Agrarian Reform Secretary Horacio Morales Jr. has rejected all pending applications for stock distribution options (SDOs), a stock-sharing scheme under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), and ordered the review of existing similar arrangements in the wake of reported gross violations by landowners.

Morales issued this directive in response to a strong clamor from farmers’ groups calling for the immediate termination of all existing SDO arrangements, such as the one existing at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, to curb illegal conversion.

In a statement, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said farmworkers at Hacienda Luisita accused the management of breach of contract when it decided to convert for industrial purposes some 3,300 hectares of farmland, about two-thirds of the 5,000-hectare estate, and sell another 500 hectares, which led to the reduction of workload among its workers.

Besides the Hacienda Luisita, the DAR is also looking into 13 other previously approved SDO arrangements, covering a combined area of 8,388 hectares.

Among the SDO implementors were the Archie Fishpond Inc., Arsenio ASl Acuña Agricultural Corp., Elenita Agricultural Development Corp., Ma. Clara Marine Ventures Inc., Palma Kabankalan Agricultural Corp. and Tabigue Marine Ventures Inc. All six firms located in Negros Occidental were later merged into one corporation.

The other SDOs involved Ledesma Hermanos Inc., Negros Industrials By-Product and Processing Inc., Wuthrich Hermanos Inc. and SVJ Farms Inc., all in Negros Occidental; Hernandez Sugar Plantation Inc. in Iloilo; Sycip Plantation Inc. in Negros Oriental; and Asia Agro-Industrial Enterprises in Davao del Sur.

With Morales’ latest directive, about 20 pending SDO applications, which are up for evaluation at the DAR’s Bureau of Land Acquisition and Distribution (BLAD), are deemed denied.

A stock distribution option is a stock-sharing arrangement between the landowners and farmworkers, with the latter controlling a certain percentage of shares of capital stocks of the corporation, making them part-owners.

The Pambansang Ugnayan ng mga Lokal na Nagsasariling Organisasyon ng mga Mamamayan sa Kanayunan (Unorka) singled out Hacienda Luisita for alleged illegal conversion and for ignoring the rights of its farm-workers, who are supposed to be their co-owners as provided for under the SDO.