'SC ruling on Luisita distribution not one-sided'

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino’s family will be given just compensation once the 4,915.75-hectare Hacienda Luisita is distributed to over 6,000 farmer workers, the Supreme Court (SC) said yesterday.

In a text message to reporters, SC spokesman Midas Marquez said the majority opinion awarded just compensation for Hacienda Luisita in implementing land distribution.

“The Court has already ruled on that,” he said.

“The majority said that the rates of just compensation should be based on November 21, 1989 rates. While there was a view that it should be based on 2006 rates, that view remained as a dissent.”

The SC affirmed an order of Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) in December 2005 voiding the stock distribution option and placing the hacienda under Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

The majority of the justices in the ruling penned by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. have ordered payment to HLI for the land to be distributed based on fair market value in November 1989.

This amount should be determined by Department of Agrarian Reform and Land Bank of the Philippines, the justices said.

Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, Aquino’s first appointee to the SC, wanted the fair market value in 2006 adopted, which means farmers would have to pay much higher before they could claim their lands.

No other justice agreed with her.

All justices, except Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who inhibited in the deliberations, voted for total land distribution.

Last Friday, Aquino said that his relatives should be given just compensation so their capital could be used in another industry where more jobs could be generated.

Landowners “should not be stripped of their landholding without compensation,” he added.

He hoped “not just one sector is favored at the expense of the other,” Aquino said.

The SC ruling could still be subject to an appeal within 15 days from receipt of notices by the parties, Marquez said.   – With Helen Flores, Delon Porcalla