DAR chief: Luisita appeal before PARC doomed

A motion for reconsideration filed by Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) is "doomed" as the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) is bent on subdividing among farm workers the sprawling sugar estate in Tarlac, Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said yesterday.

Pangandaman told reporters he had directed Agrarian Reform Undersecretary for Field Operations Narciso Nieto to immediately issue a notice to the Cojuangco family, which controls the 4,915-hectare Hacienda Luisita, to pave the way for its distribution to farmer-beneficiaries.

"I am confident that the PARC would deny any motion for reconsideration they (HLI) will file because the PARC have already decided," he said.

On recommendation of the Department of Agrarian Reform, the PARC has decided to revoke the stock distribution option (SDO) that has governed the relationship between farm workers and the family. Reacting to Pangandaman’s statement, lawyer Vigor Mendoza, HLI spokesman, said that they are inclined to file a motion for reconsideration to try to halt the implementation of the PARC resolution revoking the SDO.

"I don’t mind if he (Pangandaman) really wants to deny (our motion for reconsideration), but at least I hope he reads our motion first... for proper due process," he said.

"Our arguments have not been presented yet. It places us in a bind. What’s our legal recourse now? The courts have always been the last recourse. The DAR secretary’s pronouncement makes our options limited; it’s very limiting."

Mendoza said the PARC’s decision on their motion for reconsideration is "very crucial to us" because it would be evidence before the Supreme Court that the HLI had exhausted all means before elevating the case to the High Tribunal.

"But we have not filed the motion and yet it will already be dismissed," he said during a telephone interview.

Mendoza said that the court should first void the 1989 contract between the farmer workers and the HLI before the DAR or PARC could intervene on the agrarian reform dispute.

"HLI will still consider the filing of the motion for reconsideration at this stage" as the move is deemed the initial sentiment of the management although the statement of Pangandaman might compel us to just directly file (the appeal) before the SC," he said.

The farmer-beneficiaries and the HLI agreed to adopt SDO in 1989, and so the courts, not the DAR or PARC, have jurisdiction over the case, he added.

The DAR will begin the process of distributing the Cojuangco controlled sugar estate to farmer-beneficiaries as soon as Nieto has issued the notice of coverage.

Nieto said he would be able to issue the notice to coverage immediately after Christmas or next week.

He said the process normally takes six months, including the land survey and registration, but might take longer in the case of Hacienda Luisita, considering its size and the number of potential beneficiaries.

He estimated that the hacienda has around 8,000 potential beneficiaries.

Among the processes prior to the actual distribution of lands are the joint ocular inspection of the area by the DAR and Land Bank of the Philippines for the determination of the value of the property; and the identification of qualified farmer-beneficiaries through screening and evaluation.

Pangandaman assured the farmers that the government had enough funds to acquire Hacienda Luisita, dispelling speculations that the PARC resolution might go to nothing.

PARC Resolution No. 2005-3201, recalling the SDO, effectively stripped the Cojuangco family of control over the extensive sugar plantation and sugar mill.

The compulsory acquisition or mandatory coverage of the hacienda under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program would leave the Cojuangcos with only five hectares as required by law.