The Aquino administration has been accused of deliberately delaying the distribution of Hacienda Luisita through the “circuitous and rigorous” process implemented by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
“DAR’s slow action favors the Cojuangco-Aquinos’ grand plan to frustrate and block the distribution of Hacienda Luisita,” Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano yesterday said.
“Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes is only justifying DAR’s delaying tactics in implementing the Supreme Court decision on Luisita’s distribution. Luisita farmworkers have waited for more than five decades, now DAR will make them wait for another year,” the lawmaker added, as he expressed dismay over DAR’s bureaucratic “verification process” that slows down the distribution of 4,915 hectares of land to 6,296 legitimate beneficiaries.
DAR reportedly completed interview of 8,400 potential beneficiaries and stated that at least 20 percent of some 6,200 original beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita are dead, adding difficulty to the distribution of the disputed land estate.
It added it will release the list of beneficiaries by August or September and actual distribution will start by July 2013.
Last April, the Supreme Court ordered with finality the distribution of Hacienda Luisita.
“Despite President Aquino’s ‘hard sell’ pro-land reform posturing, he is wielding all his power and influence to protect the interest of his family. Farmers will defy this at all costs and continue to assert their right to the land,” Mariano said.
Luisita farmers and peasant groups yesterday held a protest vigil in Mendiola to condemn Aquino’s “haciendero republic.”
“Aquino will always be faithful to his class origin and interest. As long as he is in power, there can be no genuine land reform,” Mariano noted.
Protesters also gave their assessment of Aquino’s two-year-old presidency.
“Two years after his inauguration, Aquino proved himself to be an epic failure. On June 30, 2010 in his inauguration speech, Aquino said, “The people who are behind us dared to dream. Today, the dream starts to become a reality,” Mariano quoted Aquino saying.
But that dream, Mariano said, became a nightmare for the people.
“The government failed to deliver significant reforms and the needed change clamored by the people,” Mariano stressed.
“The 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 farmworkers, and eventually put their dummies and loyalists as so-called beneficiaries,” Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) deputy secretary general Willy Marbella, for his part, said.
“Aquino is using all his powers and influence for his family to maintain their control over Hacienda Luisita,” the peasant leader added.
Reports said that the DAR already interviewed 8,400 farmworkers allegedly to validate those who signed the November 1989 stock distribution option.
The KMP said “in just two barangays (villages), the DAR already interviewed 6,000 beneficiaries,” referring to Barangays Cutcut and Balete.
“The DAR’s verification scam must stop. It puts genuine Hacienda Luisita farmer-beneficiaries in danger of losing their hard-fought rights to own Hacienda Luisita,” Marbella said, adding: “We demand the DAR to produce the 1989 list of beneficiaries that also served as HLI’s bases for giving worthless stock certificates during the SDO (stock distribution option) regime.”
“President Aquino is now using the very same bogus Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) to once again evade the distribution of his family’s estate,’ Marbella said.
He added “these political maneuvers by Aquino expose him as a cold-blooded haciendero and his pro-land reform posturing is as sham as Carp.”
Charlie V. Manalo and Jason Faustino