THE Akbayan party-list group threatened to withdraw its support for President Benigno Aquino III Wednesday if land in Hacienda Luisita is not distributed to farmers and a stock option plan pushed by his family is carried out instead.
“President Aquino promised during the campaign that he would distribute the hacienda land to the farmer-beneficiaries. That promise was not only made to Akbayan but to the entire Filipino people,” Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said.
He said his group endorsed Mr. Aquino’s candidacy for the presidency and formed an alliance with his Liberal Party because Akbayan supported his platform of government.
But the group would have to reconsider its support for Aquino if he reneged on his promise.
“We have made our position clear to him that this is a bad deal and disadvantageous to the farmers,” Bello told Manila Standard.
“The future of our coalition with the Liberal Party will depend on a number of factors, including the resolution of the Hacienda Luisita issue.”
Hacienda Luisita Inc., owned by the family of President Aquino, has been locked in a decades-long dispute with farmers, who want the 6,500-hectare plantation distributed as part of the government’s land reform program. A 1989 stock distribution plan to give farmers 33 percent of the company’s shares of stock is being challenged before the Supreme Court.
But the company this month said 70 percent of the farmers had approved a new compromise deal that gave them the choice to keep their shares of stock or get 1,366 hectares. The company on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to approve the new deal.
Through a spokesman, President Aquino said he had no knowledge of the new agreement and took a hands-off approach to the issue.
But Bello said the President should get involved.
“We urge President Aquino not to sanction the deal between the farmers and his family,’’ he said.
“He should not legitimize it. He cannot stay neutral on this issue and say it is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. He should show his moral presence and weight to resolve this issue... This deal needs his moral intervention.”
Bello’s statements echoed those by another Aquino ally, former elections chairman Christian Monsod, who is a volunteer lawyer for some of the farmers.
“I think the President should have involved himself as president. Forget about his being an Aquino or Cojuangco,” Monsod told ABS-CBN.
He said the Aquinos and Cojuangcos had been enjoying the fruit of the land for 50 years, and it was now time to distribute the land to the poor.
Akbayan Rep. Kaka Bag-ao, senior vice chairman of the House committee on agrarian reform, asked if the farmers who approved the new agreement had made an informed choice. The options given them favored the hacienda’s management.
“The referendum was biased against actual distribution. They said that the property was too small for the number of farmers in the hacienda, so that each beneficiary would only receive small farms,” she said.
But the company did not present other options, such as collective ownership of the farms.
“Farmers can own, operate and manage the land collectively,’’ Bag-ao said.
“This option has proven to be viable and economically sustainable. Under collective ownership, the farmers would also be eligible for government support services.
“Stock distribution is neither an option nor the solution to the issue. Stock distribution is actually the problem. In over 20 years of its existence, it failed to improve the condition of the farmers in Hacienda Luisita.’’
It was precisely because of this kind of failure that stock distribution options have been disallowed under the new land reform law.
A Supreme Court spokesman said the entire Court would take up the new petition filed by the Hacienda Luisita owners next week.
“It [the dispute] is under the jurisdiction of the Court, all concerns, including the compromise agreement, will be reviewed,” Jose Midas Marquez said.
Christine F. Herrera
With Rey E. Requejo