Arranza urges parties to accept Hacienda Luisita compromise

MANILA, Philippines - The legal tussle in the Hacienda Luisita case should be allowed to rest immediately since it is unduly dragging the name of President Aquino, who is one of its minority owners, and it could also send wrongn signals to investors, a business group said.

Jesus L. Arranza, chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), said the most logical way to end this amicably and at the soonest possible time for the different camps to accept the compromise agreement that was forged by the Hacienda Luisita management and the farmers.

Arranza said under that deal, the farmers are given the option to either own a parcel of land if they want to, or choose the stock option and both will be respected.

“I feel that a compromise agreement is sound because not all farmers are entrepreneurial, there are those who want to be employed and some want to own land. In the same way, there are some people who would like to go into business, but there are also people who may just opt to be executives and run the business of somebody else,” Arranza said.

By giving the farmers these options, he said no one will be forcing his desires and opinions to another.

Arranza noted that even the Church has differing opinions on some matters, including land reform. For instance, he said, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Caceres opposed the coverage of some 268 hectares of landn in Camarines Sur in the government’s land reform program while the Catholic Church is pushing for the distribution of Luisita lands to the farmers.

The Nueva Caceres case dragged on for about 20 years and because the Church challenged all the way to the Supreme Court the decision of the Department of Agrarian Reform to include the land in the comprehensive agrarian reform program. The SC family ruled against the Church.

“Dragging a high-profile case like of the Hacienda Luisita is sending a wrong signal not only to local but also to foreign investors, which could deliver a telling blow to our efforts to entice more investments in agri-business. They might think that in the Philippines, their business will be put in jeopardy in the event they get into quarrel with influential groups like the Catholic Church,” Arranza said.

He said even if striking a compromise deal is not explicitly provided for in the law, as what is being alleged by some camps, it will still be valid as long as the compromise agreement is not contrary to law, public morals and customs.

He stressed that in business, reaching a compromise is always a good way in achieving a win-win solution