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MANILA, Philippines – It’s been 9 months since the Supreme Court affirmed its historic ruling awarding to farmers some 4,000 hectares of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac. Finally, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) released its final list of farmer-beneficiaries on Wednesday, February 27.
From 5,365 recipients in its preliminary list in October 2012, the final list includes 6,212 beneficiaries. The list will be posted in 10 barangays in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.
DAR Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes said the master list was finalized based on the directive of the High Court that only those who were working in in the sugar plantation under Luisita Tarlac Development Corp in 1989 could be considered beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
The number of beneficiaries increased by 847 more after some farm workers who were initially excluded in the preliminary list submitted records such as contribution slips to the Social Security System to DAR in December 2012. These documents showed they worked in TADECO.
The exclusion of some farmers in October 2012 caused an uproar then among farmer-groups. (Read:Farmers question DAR’s list of beneficiaries).
Lito Bais, president of the United Luisita Workers Union, said they will examine the list and exclude those who were not “real farmworkers.”
De los Reyes said, however that they followed stringent guidelines and a comprehensive process in determining who the beneficiaries are.
They screened and interviewed 8,641 farm workers. Out of this 5,365 workers were included in the preiliminary list and 1, 218 were put in a provisional list – these are the farmers who have to submit additional documents to prove their employment in Tadeco.
The final master list was verified by reviewing the following: list provided by Hacienda Luisita Inc. which has 6,296 names, a list of farmworkers who participated in the 1989 stock distribution options, documents submitted by farmworkers to DAR and those gathered from SSS itself.
DAR will now complete the first phase of its land survey in March. The Hacienda Luisita – which is owned by the Cojuangco side of the family of President Benigno Aquino III – will be subdivided into 6,212 parcels of lands that would cover roads and irrigation canals.
DAR is aiming to complete the distrubution of the land titles in June. – Rappler.com
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