DAR to release initial list of Luisita beneficiaries

ANGELES CITY, Philippines  – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is set to release by August or September a preliminary list of farmworker-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita.

“All the proceedings in the identification, screening and validation of potential beneficiaries in Hacienda Luisita are open to the public in the interest of transparency,” Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes said in a statement released to local journalists here yesterday.

De los Reyes expressed confidence they could meet their self-imposed deadline for the release of the preliminary list following the computerization of farm workers’ database.

A report from DAR’s management information system showed that 8,482 farm workers were screened of their credentials and interviewed as of June 29.

DAR started the identification, screening and validation of beneficiaries from 10 barangays of Luisita last May 18. The process began after DAR lawyers received a copy of the final decision of the Supreme Court (SC) ordering the distribution of the sugar estate to farm workers.

The SC in its Nov. 22, 2011 decision ordered the distribution of 4,195 hectares of Hacienda Luisita lands to 6,296 farmworker-beneficiaries listed in 2009 by the Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid ng Asyenda Luisita.

DAR said the number of beneficiaries is expected to increase, to include the children of at least 20 percent of beneficiaries who have died.

In a press briefing in Pampanga last week, De los Reyes said the government is not delaying the distribution of lands in Hacienda Luisita.

“Please understand that it takes time. We follow a system. We have over 8,400 claimants.Twenty percent of the farmer-beneficiaries in the official list had died so we are determining their heirs,” he said.

De los Reyes said that apart from identification and screening, segregation and subdivision survey and preparation for post-distribution support services are being conducted simultaneously to fasttrack the distribution process.

Formerly owned by the Cojuangco family on the maternal side of President Aquino, Hacienda Luisita, which covers more than 6,000 hectares, is the biggest Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program-covered land ever to be distributed to farmers.