Cojuangcos want Corona out of Hacienda Luisita case

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino’s family wants Chief Justice Renato Corona to inhibit from the Supreme Court’s deliberations on their appeal on the decision to distribute the 4,915.75-hectare family-controlled estate in Tarlac, their lawyer said yesterday.

Speaking to The STAR, Tony Ligon said the Cojuangco-controlled Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) believes Corona is not fit to participate in the resolution of the appeal.

“After he publicly linked our case (Hacienda Luisita) to his impeachment, we believe he would no longer be impartial,” he said.

However, Ligon said they would not manifest in writing the call for Corona’s inhibition.

“He should do it voluntarily since it’s a personal call,” he said.

Ligon questioned the claim of Corona that his impeachment arose from the Hacienda Luisita case.

“I thought he said in the other cases that he only has one vote and he can’t influence the other 14 justices,” he said.

“Why then would he say he was the one who blocked the payment of P10-billion demand for just compensation? Does it mean he influenced the other justices in this case?”

Ligon said the claim of the P10-billion demand of HLI for just compensation was baseless.

“I don’t think the 2006 valuation that we have been pushing is even close (to) that big amount,” he said.

Ligon said the valuation of the land in 2005 when the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway was taken would amount to P5 billion at most.

“That’s why nowhere in any our pleadings have we made mention of the valuation because as the Court itself said in the ruling, it should be the Land Bank that should determine that,” he said.

Ligon said they appealed the SC decision since it placed the value of the land at the time of taking in 1989, which was “too small.”

“Compensation – as the law says – should be just,” he said.

“You have to consider the increase in value of the land, considering the developments that had been undertaken there.”

HLI opted to appeal the resolution with the thought of the welfare of the over 4,000 farm worker beneficiaries that the SC has delisted, Ligon said.

The SC has directed distribution to a total of 6,296 farm workers, when over 10,000 are beneficiaries.

Earlier this month, Corona pointed to the SC’s unanimous ruling in November last year for the distribution of Hacienda Luisita as reason for his impeachment.

Corona said HLI wanted P10 billion in compensation, which he vehemently opposed during deliberations of the case.

“I was the one who blocked that and for them to get that amount, they would have to cut my head off and remove me,” he said in Filipino in an interview with GMA 7 morning show Unang Hirit.

“That’s the truth. That’s the root cause of this impeachment. If you will ask me now why they want me out, I think it’s because I blocked that demand for P10-billion compensation for Hacienda Luisita.”

It was not the first time Corona had linked the Hacienda Luisita issue to his trial.

Hours before the impeachment trial began on Jan. 16, Corona said after the flag raising ceremony at the SC in Manila that he was a stumbling block to those who do not want the distribution of land to the farmers of Hacienda Luisita to push through.

DAR urged to act swiftly

Militant farmers urged the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) yesterday to act swiftly ahead of its scheduled ocular inspection of the 184-hectare portion of Hacienda Luisita that Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) claims.

Lito Bais, Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) national chairman, said the DAR must quickly act on this renewed attack on the farm workers.

“The bank management is clearly using the questionable conversion order to harass and intimidate the farm workers asserting their right to land,” he said.

“DAR should not wait for a repeat of a 2004 bloody dispersal to act on the issue.”

In the same report, UMA’s allied organization Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA) said that the chairman of Barangay Balete is also planning to hire more people to join the demolition team.

“RCBC is on war footing,” the report said.

“It wanted to seal the area to be inspected by the Department of Agrarian Reform to avoid possible inclusion of the questioned lot in what should be distributed to farm workers.”

Bais asked Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes to revoke RCBC’s conversion order to avoid another untoward incident.

“We warn them that if they continue to make harsh actions, the farm workers are ready to defend their ranks.”

Last January, AMBALA petitioned DAR for the revocation of RCBC’s conversion order on the 184-hectare subject land.

In response, the DAR said it will conduct ocular inspection in the area.

However, Tarlac Municipal Trial Court Branch 1 ordered the farm workers to vacate theland despite a pending motion of AMBALA. – With Evelyn Macairan