Luisita farmers told to check DAR list

MANILA, Philippines - A militant group said Wednesday that Hacienda Luisita farmers should scrutinize the so-called preliminary list of beneficiaries issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) expressed doubts on the verification process of Hacienda Luisita beneficiaries conducted by the agency.

The DAR has come up with an initial list of 5,365 farm workers who will become beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita.    

Aside from those in the list, another 1,221 farm workers have been placed on a provisional list due to deficiencies in documents that would prove the validity of their claims as Luisita beneficiaries.

“Hacienda Luisita farmers would deeply scrutinize the DAR’s so-called preliminary list of beneficiaries. They should not accept the DAR’s list,” said KMP deputy secretary-general Randall Echanis.

The KMP has been questioning the DAR’s verification process and is demanding that the agency produce the 1989 list of beneficiaries that also served as Hacienda Luisita Inc.’s basis for giving what it referred to as “stock certificates during the SDO (stock distribution option) regime.”

“Under the guise of so-called ‘verification process,’ the DAR, with the blessings of Malacañang, is maneuvering to evade land distribution,” Echanis said.

The group said DAR’s highly questionable verification process is all “in accordance with the Cojuangcos’ move to bloat the number of beneficiaries, further reduce the size of land for distribution, sow confusion and disunity among farm workers, and eventually put their dummies and loyalists as so-called beneficiaries.”