‘Luisita distribution to proceed as scheduled’

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) yesterday said the scheduled distribution of land to qualified farmworker-beneficiaries in Hacienda Luisita would push through in the middle of the year despite the deadlock on the special audit process in the sugar estate.

The DAR, meanwhile, dismissed as “baseless and unfounded” allegations that it has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to include two new parties in the “special audit” of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) and the Centenary Holdings Inc. (CHI).

DAR Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Anthony Parungao said the process of land distribution in Hacienda Luisita is distinct and separate from the special purpose audit of pertinent financial records of HLI and CHI.

“There is no truth to the allegations by a farmers’ group in Hacienda Luisita that the impasse on the special purpose audit is delaying the land distribution schedule in the sugar estate,” Parungao said.

He was referring to the allegations by the Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) that the urgent motion the DAR filed with the SC last month was intended to delay the scheduled land distribution in Hacienda Luisita.

Parungao said the DAR, through the Office of the Solicitor General, filed last May 27 the urgent motion with the SC to clarify various issues arising from the special purpose audit the tribunal ordered on the financial records of HLI and CHI.

The DAR’s move was prompted by the recent impasse in the process to select a reputable accounting firm to conduct the special audit, and the disagreement among the parties in the Hacienda Luisita case on which company should be selected, after a vote was made last May 17 on a motion to disqualify two of the three interested accounting firms.

DAR officials argued that the special audit on HLI and CHI, with respect to the gross proceeds from the conversion of two lots with an area of 500 hectares and the expropriation of a portion for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, cannot proceed unless all the parties agree on the accounting firm that will undertake this task.

The SC, in its order last year, said the DAR is “ordered to engage the services of a reputable accounting firm approved by the parties” to audit the books of HLI and CHI to determine if the P1,330,511,500 proceeds of the sale of the three lots “were actually used or spent for legitimate corporate expenses.”

“Any unspent or unused balance and any disallowed expenditures, as determined by the audit, shall be distributed to the 6,296 original FWBs (farmworker-beneficiaries),” the tribunal added.

Based on the SC ruling, Parungao said the DAR’s role in the audit process is limited to facilitating the process that will lead to the selection of an accounting firm acceptable to and approved by all the parties involved.

The parties concerned, according to Parungao, include HLI and the various farmers’ organizations representing the farmworkers of Hacienda Luisita.