Bigger tasks ahead

People who smell a conspiracy to strike back at President Aquino in the Supreme Court’s recent decision mandating the distribution of the land to farmworkers in Hacienda Luisita should lay their suspicions to rest. The timing of the announcement last Wednesday may have been less than perfect, coming as it did amid a bitter confrontation between the executive branch and high court over the right of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to travel abroad, but the Luisita farmers have already waited for far too long to get what is rightfully theirs by law and by the requirements of social justice. Whatever the motivations of the justices who have consistently voted against the Aquino administration on questions affecting the former president, this time they were joined by all the three Aquino appointees in voting unanimously for the farmers and against the President’s family who owns Hacienda Luisita. In fact, Mr. Aquino’s first appointee to the Supreme Court, Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, had vigorously argued and voted for land distribution when the majority first decided in July this year to give the farmworkers the choice of sticking to the Stock Distribution Plan that Hacienda Luisita put in place in 1989. And while Malacañang was less than enthusiastic in accepting the high court’s latest decision, still both the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Office of the Solicitor General, acting on the President’s instruction, put themselves squarely on the side of the farmers in this issue.

The war isn’t completely won yet for Hacienda Luisita’s farmers. Although a lawyer of the Cojuangcos said initially that they would “respect” the high court’s decision and “abide by it,” the family appears to be girding for more legal battles ahead, beginning with the filing of a motion for reconsideration, although the chances of a reversal of the unanimous decision are almost nil. Even more contentious would be the issue of compensation. Based on their separate opinions, some justices would peg the compensation to the landowners at 1989 prices, which would amount to only P170,000 per hectare, according to a lawyer of the Cojuangcos. Hacienda Luisita, however, was paid P1 million per hectare in 2005 for the 85.5 hectares used for the right of way it extended to SCTEx. Given the wide difference in valuations, the DAR and the Landbank, which were assigned to determine the appropriate price, will be hard put to get the farmworkers and the landowners to agree on the amount.

But if Mr. Aquino would weigh in on the side of the workers, the process of giving them justice could be speeded up. First, he can persuade his kin not to ask for a reconsideration of the high court’s ruling, which could only delay the distribution of the land. Then he can ask them to moderate their demand for compensation, considering that their family has already reaped so much profit from the land that should have been given to the farmers 43 years ago under the terms of the original lease on the property. Once these and other issues related to ownership are settled, Mr. Aquino can give full attention to the larger task of rescuing farmworkers from poverty.

Getting titles to their land isn’t going to raise the incomes and the standard of living of the farmworkers and their families. With 6,296 original farmworkers dividing 4,816 hectares, each will get to own only 7,650 square meters of land. Very few families can survive, much less thrive, on such a tiny parcel of agricultural land. They will need all the help from the government to organize and consolidate their land holdings to form economically viable farms. They will need capital and technical support to plant and harvest their crops as well as to process and bring their produce to the market so that they can get higher returns on their labor. Only the government can provide such help on the scale necessary to uplift their condition.

With the albatross that was the Hacienda Luisita land dispute gone, Mr. Aquino can now demonstrate his commitment to real agrarian reform. His administration can proceed to break up other landed estates, without having to justify why his own family is holding on to a vast tract of sugar land. He can begin to see the completion of the agrarian reform program during his term. And he has the opportunity to improve the lives of farmers—starting with those who have served his family for almost two generations now.