Agrarian reform model

From the start, people who see omens in the stars warned that there’s a price to pay for immense power that falls into one’s lap.

In the case of Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, grandson of the late Jose “Pepe” Cojuangco Sr., the price is the loss of the family’s crown jewel, Hacienda Luisita, during his presidency.

Apart from insisting that he has a miniscule share in Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), wringing his hands and imagining Chief Justice Renato Corona as his target during de-stressing sessions in the firing range, what can Cojuangco’s grandson do?

In a perfect world, President Aquino will order his officials ASAP to assist the beneficiaries and turn Hacienda Luisita into a model for successful agrarian reform — one that will set the standard for all other owners of large agricultural estates.

But it’s an imperfect world, and land distribution can still be delayed as HLI fights for higher compensation for the estate and the battle moves to arenas over which Malacañang might have some control.

Anyone who has visited the hacienda may understand why it could be difficult to give up.

During her presidency, Corazon Aquino invited us, the journalists who covered Malacañang, to the hacienda. She was a gracious host; she chatted about her family and showed us souvenir booties made for each of her children. We were shown a warehouse where a mountain of brown sugar was stored; I was amazed to be told that ants stay away from brown sugar.

The individual houses of the siblings are no castles, but the estate itself – all 6,000-plus hectares of it – can make you wonder how so much land in this tiny archipelago can be owned by so few.

Even back then we were told (not by Cory Aquino) that she was not involved in the administration of the estate, that she had no say in running the hacienda. The role, we were told, belonged to the men in the family, notably the eldest, Pedro, and Don Pepe’s junior, Peping.

Peping Cojuangco was a member of the House of Representatives when the first Congress after the EDSA revolt passed the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law. Even back then a provision in the CARL drew flak: it gave “hacenderos” the option to distribute stock shares rather than land to their farmers.

The stock distribution option or SDO protected not just Luisita but several other large agricultural estates from being parceled out. One argument for the SDO is that large agricultural estates are more efficient. Consider, for example, the output of large pineapple and banana plantations in Mindanao.

Large agricultural estates have higher capitalization and therefore greater capacity to invest in modern farming technology, post-harvest facilities, and efficient systems. They also have a better marketing arm. With the SDO, farmer-tenants can actually earn more.

These arguments may be valid, but unfortunately for Noynoy Aquino, it will not be for him to prove those points right. His role, as Hacienda Luisita is carved up under his watch, is to deliver on the promise of agrarian reform that his mother failed to accomplish.

* * *

Last Holy Week on my way to Dagupan City I took the SCTex, the 94-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, whose northern terminus is Barangay Amucao in Tarlac City. That’s the site of the commercial complex at the entrance to Luisita. The SCTex cuts through the estate, giving motorists a view of part of the sugar land, the old railway, a mill, and trucks laden with sugarcane.

There were so few vehicles on the SCTex on Good Friday the guys at the Lakbay Lansangan station closest to Luisita seemed overjoyed that someone had pulled over for directions. They pressed on us entire boxes of candies, towelettes and medicine for motion sickness — stuff that they were supposed to give away to those in need.

The SCTex, opened in 2008 amid controversy over the selection of its route, gave added value to Luisita, as any first-class road will do to private property.

Luisita is said to be as large as Makati and Pasig combined. Driving through the vast estate, you will understand why its owners will not part with it gladly.

The elder Cojuangco acquired Central Azucarera de Tarlac and Hacienda Luisita three years before Noynoy Aquino was born to Corazon Cojuangco and Benigno Aquino Jr. Then President Ramon Magsaysay reportedly offered the property to Jose Cojuangco through his son-in-law Ninoy Aquino.

By now many Filipinos are familiar with this part of the story: Jose obtained a loan, guaranteed by the Central Bank no less, from the Government Service Insurance System to acquire the Azucarera and Luisita from the Spanish company Tabacalera, or the Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas.

The loan was approved on condition that the estate would eventually be distributed to the sugarcane workers as part of Magsaysay’s social amelioration program.

Jose Cojuangco got the loan. He was a “don” in the Pinoy sense of the word: landed, a “patron” in his vast fiefdom, wealthy enough to afford a house in Forbes Park.

Not even the Marcos dictatorship could make the Luisita owners honor their part of the loan deal.

Agrarian reform became a sore point for the first Aquino presidency. On Jan. 22, 1987, 13 farmers demanding genuine agrarian reform were shot dead by government forces in what is now called the Mendiola massacre. Video footage showed the distinctive uniform, shield and helmet of the law enforcers who pointed their guns directly at the farmers and fired away. But I don’t recall anyone going to prison for mass murder.

In 2004, seven farmers (the figures vary) were killed and hundreds injured when lawmen broke up a protest in Hacienda Luisita.

There’s been enough blood and unrest over this issue. If a scion of the Cojuangco clan can make Hacienda Luisita an agrarian reform success story, he would earn an exalted place in history. How P-Noy handles this issue will define his presidency.