Luisita farmers seek return of 184 hectares sold by Cojuangcos

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – Farmer leaders in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac are filing a petition to claim all 4,915 hectares of the sugar estate recently awarded to them by the Supreme Court, including 184 hectares previously sold by the Cojuangco family to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).  

The farmer beneficiaries now want the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to reverse its earlier order converting the classification of the land sold to RCBC from agricultural to industrial.

“We are firm and determined to work out the revocation of the conversion order issued by the DAR in favor of RCBC in 1996,” said the Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) belonging to the Alyansa ng mga Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL).

Agrarian Reform Undersecretary Narciso Nieto said they are just waiting for the petition to be filed.

“We will then see what they have to say in the petition and afterwards, the agency can decide on what to do with the said issue,” he said.

AMGL chairman Joseph Canlas said the property sold by the Cojuangcos to RCBC in the early ‘90s includes 184 hectares in Barangay Balete within Hacienda Luisita.

The parcel of land now held by RCBC transferred hands several times before it was acquired by the bank.

On Aug. 14, 1996, the DAR approved the application for conversion of a 500-hectare parcel of land in the hacienda from agricultural to industrial use.

AMBALA said the conversion order “merely allowed the HLI to transfer land to other family-owned corporations that are also major HLI stockholders.”

In December 1996, HLI ceded 300 hectares of the 500 hectares to stockholder Centenary Holdings, Inc. The remaining 200 hectares were transferred to Luisita Realty Corp. in 1997 and 1998.

Canlas said Centenary Holdings then sold the 300 hectares to Luisita Industrial Park Corp. (Lipco). In November 2004, Lipco transferred 184 hectares of the 300-hectare parcel of land to RCBC as payment for its loan obligations.

On Nov. 22, 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that the entire 4,915 hectares of agricultural land, including those sold to RCBC, should be distributed to 6,296 qualified farmer beneficiaries.

The Court also ordered the payment of P1,330,511,500 to the farmers.

The amount is broken down as follows: P500 million received by HLI for the sale of 200 hectares out of the 500 hectares covered by an Aug. 14, 1996 conversion order; P750 million received by the HLI subsidiary Centenary Holdings Inc. for the sale of the remaining 300 hectares from the 500-hectare land; and P80,511,500 paid by the government for the sale of the 80.51-hectare lot used for the construction of the SCTEX road network.– With Rhodina Villanueva