Go beyond Hacienda Luisita,
land reform department dared

This is a test case for DLR but I don’t think they would be able to take up on this challenge considering that these properties belong to the Arroyos. What they’re doing to Hacienda Luisita case is a pure vendetta and not because they’re just implementing the law. The timing is questionable. If they were really interested in making a fair decision, they should have done that a long time ago. Let’s see what Gloria’s defenders will say about this. And I think if the opposition or Congress start questioning this matter, Gloria and the people around her will cry foul.

Whether there is a valid issue with Hacienda Luisita, or based on this report, with Danding Cojuangco’s haciendas, are other matters all together. What should be THE POINT is that as a so-called leader, GMA should set the example–eh kaso, feeling nya ABOVE THE LAW sya. As GMA has said (in her irritating voice): “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone…” TONTA!!!

GMA is only harrassing Cory, if she is really serious in helping the farmers she should give away all the Arroyo Haciendas to land reform or better yet give herself up to the farmers so they can BURN HER AT THE STAKES!!

I think the time has come to nullify the stock option initiated by the Hacienda Luisita owners and turn over the lands to the farm workers. For16 years they tried to make the stock option work with the objective of improving the economic welare of the farmers. It failed and has left the farmers poorer than when all this began.

Stock option is a sound concept for it guarantees continuity in the operation of those businesses or factories, which as in the case of Luisita, it is the major source of sugarcane that supplies two sugar factories, a factory that produces raw or brown sugar and a refinery that converts the raws into refined. The sugar factories cannot survive without the cane from the fields. It is in this concept that the stock option was opted to in order to preserve the whole hacienda intact, rather than parcel out the land and distribute them among thousands of farmers who may just as well sell their shares to real estate builders and homeowners. The stock option was premised on the expectation that the farmers will continue to share from the incomes generated by the operation and sugar sales of Luisita. It’s obvious it was a total failure.

The farmers have been more than patient. They have given the Hacienda owners 16 years to prove themselves right by agreeing to their terms. Waiting for 16 years for nothing is no joke. The farmers have suffered enough and do not deserve to wait a day longer. The Cojuangcos should give up the land already for the sake of the poor farmers who have tilled their land for generations. It is said Cory’s side of the Cojuangcos are the good side. They should not allow people think that they are far worse than the Pacman.

Since panay rule of law ang palaging palusot ng malacañang, sige nga let the rule of law applies to all hacienda owners i.e cojuangcos, arroyos, at lahat ng mga pulitiko na sakop ng repormang agraryo.

of course talagang political vendetta lang eto. hindi kayang ipatupad ng gobyerno ang CARP against sa mga malalaking landlords na opposed dito lalo na sa negros. yan ang totoo. yung mga may maliliit na lupain lang naman ang nakaya ng DLR na brasuhin maliban doon sa ibang malalaking landowners na boluntaryong nagbenta ng kanilang lupain. kayang-kayang ibitin ng mga landlords sa korte yan. kaya wala ring pinagkaiba ang hacienda luisita. icocontest din sa korte at tsaka matutulog ang kaso. idagdag pa ang pabago-bagong desisyon ng DLR. pag may bago na namang administrasyon at bagong nakaupo na head diyan malamang na mabago na naman ang desisyon. so for media consumption na naman eto. parang sinasabi lang ni gloria kay cory na kayang-kaya siyang ipitin nito pag di siya tinigilan at masama siyang kaaway kaya huwag siyang galitin.

The sugar industry has suffered due to globalization. This is the main reason why income from this industry has been spiraling downward. If I remeber right. FVR and Erap hired lobby firms to help the sugar industry. The stock option scheme is fine if sugar prices in the international market is good. Globalization has hurt a lot of third world economies which rely heavily on agricultural produce. Our domestic economy base is not solid enough to compete globally. This is the reason why every G8 summit has been met by rallies and demonstrations. Many nations have suffered with globalization.

This is a simple case of harrassment against Cory. This government will do anything to get back at its critics. GMA cannot touch the businessmen who have called for her resignation. This will surely hurt her call for more investments.

Maybe the opposition should hold their rallies late Friday afternoons, just like in the last months of the Marcos regime. Siguro naman, wala nang magrereklamo pag ganun.

What is the basic rule in handing out lands to the poor? Are they going to buy the land from the owner at fair market value or is the goverment going to buy it from the owner then sell or give it to the poor? In fairness to the landowners, they should be paid what their land is worth. While the farmers and the poor are entitled to have a land, they should pay for it just like everybody.

The down side to land reform or the housing development of the government is that people from the government and the masa are taking advantage of it. I’ve heard of squaters being relocated and given a house, only to go back to Manila to squat again, after selling the house that was given to them.

Should the hacienderos submit their land for land reform? Definitely but they should be compensated, too.

Yes, Schumey, globalization is partly to blame for the decline of our sugar industry. The country was not prepared to face the global competition coming from the efficient and stronger foreign economies. Our sugar industry lacked the capital to build new mills to replace half-century old inefficient mills that would produce cheap sugar competitively. Today the Philippines lags behind and produces one of the most expensive sugars in the world. Thailand which learned its sugar technology from the Philippines, runs a very efficient sugar industry in the region, and is now a major supplier in the Far East, a position the Philippines once held.

But land reform is also to blame because landholdings were partitioned into smaller lots and distributed to farmer tenants, many of whom in the end either abandoned the planting of cane for some other crops, or their children who could have continued the family tradition had no desire to be farmers and switched to other professions or left for abroad in seek for greener pastures. Others simply sold theirs to land developers. Consequently, cane production was reduced significantly forcing the mills to operate way below milling capacity. Old mills that could not keep up closed shop.

Yes, too, Bukolitos, the land reform program is mandatory and under the reform program the big landholdings are bought, partitioned and distributed by the government solely to tenant-farmers who till the land for generations, This is not land program for the poor or squatters.
To give you an idea of the big landholdings in the Philippines, Hacienda Luisita, for example, is about the size of Caloocan city.

Problem is not all landowners whose lands were reformed have not been paid fully for lack of government funds which generally come from confiscated sources like the Marcos unexplained wealth. The value of the land is based on standard government appraisal which is usually a bit lower than the commercial value.

the value of land subjected to CARP is not just a bit lower than its commercial value but way, way below. can you imagine 1hectare w/ an apparaised value from the assessor’s office of P165,000 (commercially, it could reach P200,000) is only paid P15,000 by the govt under DLR? if i just heard it from somebody i might not believe it but this is first hand information from a cousin whose inherited land was distributed by DLR to the tenants. the price was so outrageous. and we are talking here of only 10hectares. i don’t know if we can call this just compensation specially for the small land owners. parang hingi na lang ang presyo. the reason i think that most big land owners are resisting this law. my symphaty is on the small land owners na talagang pinaghirapang maipundar ang mga lupa na ang iba nagmula pa sa mga kanununonoan nila bago kukunin lang sa napakababang halaga.

Sorry JR_LAD, I pressed the wrong key. I was about to say that land sold under the CARP is capital gains tax free. If you sell the same property commercially the capital gains tax would be enormous that the net price to the owner would be about the price paid by CARP, but not at the disproportionate level your cousin was paid you said. You said your cousin’s property worth 165,000 was paid only 15,000?
That’s definitely ridiculous and your cousin should have protested that.

Toro,

my cousin discussed this already w/ a relative lawyer and a cousin priest and they affirmed that it is indeed the price under CARP. i myself protested to this price being too low considering that the appraised value as per the tax declaration was P165,000/hectare (that was taken 15 years ago). i was expecting that it might be at least P100,000/hectare or even P50,000 but P15,000? my cousin though has accepted that but i still feel that it is wrong. if somebody here can say otherwise and tell me the exact amount due to landowners, i will appreciate it. it can still be contested since final award of the land has not been effected yet. you are right that capital gain tax is free.
what is more outrageous is that DLR distributed the lands to the tenants without my cousins consent. you see she’s the sole heir to the land and it so happened that the lands where mortgage to the tenants for so long and she left her place and stayed with us. when she decided to redeem the land with our help, the 10 hectares were already distributed to the tenants. the amount of P150,000 was deposited under her name in Land Bank. of course she rejected the amount badmouthed the DLR personnel incharge and demanded her share. the question is how did they maneuver giving the lands to the tenants without the owner’s consent? may guess is, nagkalagayan.

I’m sorry to hear that, Jr_lad, but the price paid to your cousin is outrageous. I would have brought the case to the court to question why the price is barely 10 percent of the appraised value and what considerations were taken in the determination of the price. I’m not sure what reasons were given, but I find this totally unacceptable. It’s bad enough to lose a property that you have no desire to sell, but it’s downright atrocious to lose it in an underhanded and inequitable way.

(If you’re wondering why I said in my previous reply that I pressed the wrong key, an unfinished reply before this was inadvertently submitted when I hit the wrong key. I suppose the moderator of this blog knew it was in error and removed it .)

Nice input Toro. people only see the plight of the tenants and not look at the landowners side. Without proper technical and finacial support from the govenment, these tenants sell their lots in the end. These tenants only know how to till the land but lack the knowhow about the business side.

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Correct, Shumey, the reform program is good both in concept and objective, but I think the govt has missed something or did not do enough by guidng the farmer tenants to stand up on their feet, like helping them with capital or financing to set up their business; also some marketing ideas they can learn from seminars, you know, stuff like that. What happened it seems is like the govt. tells the tenant, o heto ang lupa libre, bahala ka na sa buhay no.

Many in govt. do not learn from the mistakes committed in the past. If you recall, history tells us that the successful social reforms initiated by Pres. Ramon Magsaysay, in putting an end to the hostilities in Central Luzon in the mid 50’s caused by the Hukbalahap insurgency, was basically the distribution of free land to starving peasants. He gave the peasants a new lease in life and hope for a better future by relocating them to Mindanao where all of them were given lands to till and call their own. These were huge public lands. Unfortunately, they were left alone to survive in the vastness of a virtually undeveloped land. That distant place with very little attention given to the needs of a community to have a respectable living condition made life harsher for the displaced peasants that much later they abandoned the land. Those vast tracks of land are now planted to pineapple and bananas. Those were lands cleared by the pioneering peasants. Those peasants have long gone. I give you one guess who owns them now.

thanks toro. your input gives me reason to look further into this matter whereas before i was convinced that nothing is wrong with the price. you are right to say ‘It’s bad enough to lose a property that you have no desire to sell, but it’s downright atrocious to lose it in an underhanded and inequitable way’.

in mindanao (i know specifically in davao), those tenants of big banana plantations before who were awarded the lands are in much better condition now. they are now called the growers and sell their produce directly to the big processing plants and importers that used to own the lands. they are given also financial support by these big companies. in a way, their income is much better now. i think that’s where the govt can say that land reform really is a success. it’s due to the fact also that banana is a very profitable business. it’s a win-win situation because all the produce are still going to these big companies whereas the growers are compensated well since they are now the owners of the land where they are mere workers before.

To fully appreciate the issue on Hacienda Luista and other related agrarian cases, I invite everyone to read the CARP LAW in its entirety including its amendments as well as its IRR.

The link is : http://www.chanrobles.com/legal4agrarianlaw.htm

Kindly pay special focus on the scope (sec.4); determination of just compensation (sec17); valuation and mode of compensation (sec.18) as well as to the exemptions from taxes and fees of land transfers (sec. 66)

It might also interest everyone that the House Committee on Human Rights has conducted congressional investigations, in aid of legislation (of course), in some agrarian cases that include the infamous Negros shooting and killing incident, some even labelled it as the “Cuenca Mystery” or the “case of spider hunting”.

How about the link? Use google, my friend

Task Force Mapalad is closely identified with Hector Soliman, husband of Dinky Soliman. This could be another case of mud-slinging and political deceit.

The social democrats and their Jesuit allies should blame Drilon. He is from Region 6, and it is in this region (Negros, Iloilo and other provinces) where the land-owners are very much anti-agrarian reform. Former DAR Secretary Rene Villa, who never really touched on the issues raised by Task Force Mapalad, is Drilon ally and Soliman’s colleague in the so-called Hyatt 10.

Now these social democrats, and even the national democrats of Satur Ocampo, are downplaying the Hacienda Luisita issue simply because Corazon Cojuangco is now their friend and ally.

Clearly, this is political opportunism. Hypocrites as they were before, they now share common “issues and aspirations”. Later, they would again go against each others throats. They have blood debts against each other.

AGRARIAN REFORM DISTRIBUTES ARROYOS’ LANDS IN NEGROS OCCIDENTAL

BACOLOD CITY, April 3, 2004 (STAR) The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) distributed yesterday certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) to 1,950 beneficiaries of the landholdings of the family of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo in the Negros Occidental towns of Binalbagan and Hinigaran.

Farm workers and tenants of the Arroyos’ Haciendas Olimbo and Manolita were among those who received their CLOAs from newly appointed Agrarian Reform Secretary Jose Ma. Ponce in simple rites at the public plaza here.

Ponce said the Arroyos have committed more than 700 hectares of their landholdings to the agrarian reform program.

Of the total hectarage, more than 300 hectares have been distributed, while 200 hectares are still being processed.

Ponce said the CLOA distribution was President Arroyo’s gift to Negrenses. Mrs. Arroyo, who marks her birthday on Monday, was supposed to personally distribute the CLOAs but she sent Ponce instead because of her tight schedule.

More than 100,000 hectares of private lands, or more than 10 percent of the country’s national agrarian reform target, are in Negros Occidental. — Antonieta Lopez
http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/hl/hl100177.htm

MORE LANDS OWNED BY FIRST GENTLEMAN UP FOR DISTRIBUTION
http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/hl/hl102197.htm

MANILA, June 15, 2005 (STAR) More than 250 hectares of agricultural lands in Negros Occidental owned by the family of First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo will be distributed to land reform beneficiaries within the next few months.

Land Reform Secretary Rene Villa said his office was just waiting for Mr. Arroyo to issue a special power of attorney authorization for his younger brother, Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, so that his share in the 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan could be transferred to the government as mandated under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.

Hacienda Bacan, one of the properties in Negros Occidental placed under land reform, is already being processed for distribution to farmer-beneficiaries, he added.

Villa also denied allegations that the Department of Land Reform (DLR) had not subjected to land reform vast agricultural properties in Negros Occidental, particularly those owned by the Arroyo family.
“We issue this statement not really to defend one family but to correct malicious fabrications against the President,” he said.

Villa said contrary to claims in newspaper ads, the DLR has continued to extend support services to farmers in Negros Occidental.
Records at the DLR show the Arroyo family lands had been consistently awarded to land reform beneficiaries since the late 1980s, he added.

Villa said some 870 hectares of land in Negros Occidental formerly owned by the Arroyos had already been distributed to 900 farmer-beneficiaries.

These lands are spread over the towns of Binalbagan, Hinigaran and La Castellana, he added.

[...] were more clever: they promised to redistribute but bogged down the process in legal red tape, ensuring neither stock option schemes nor redistribution. For the middle path, the situation finally came to a head when both radicals and the government [...]