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Farmers question DAR’s list of Luisita beneficiaries

Purple S. Romero

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The Department of Agrarian Reform posts its initial list of Hacienda Luisita farmworkers who will be awarded land titles -- but not without hitches

LANDOWNERS. Farmers look for their names in DAR's list of Hacienda Luisita beneficiaries.

TARLAC, Philippines – Edwin Perez-Bonifacio did not see his name on the initial list of 5,365 farmworkers in Hacienda Luisita who will be finally awarded their land titles. Perplexed, the 40-year-old Bonifacio said that as early as last July, he submitted to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) government identification cards, pay slips and documents showing he was a stockholder in the sugar plantation.

Bonifacio is not alone. Renato Lalic of the group FARM, one of the farmer-groups that waged a hard-fought legal battle to have Hacienda Luisita distributed to some 6,000 farmers, said he is worried that some of their members are not part of the 5,365 recipients that DAR has listed. They might not also be among the 1,221 farmworkers whose entitlement to the land has yet to be fully determined, Lalic added.

DAR officials were here in Barangay Mapalacasiao on Wednesday, October 31, to post the agency’s preliminary list of farmworkers who could receive land titles. DAR Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes also posted another provisional list of 1,221 farmers whose possible land ownership is still being assessed due to lack of proof that they worked for the plantation in 1989. (Proof could be records with the Social Security System).

DAR released the said lists 6 months after the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling in April 2012, declared with finality that the 4,000-hectare Hacienda Luisita should be distributed to farmers.

The farmworkers were previously made as stockholders of Hacienda Luisita Inc., which was owned by the relatives of President Benigno Aquino III. The stockholder distribution option was seen as a way to skirt direct land distribution, which was mandated by the Constitution and, in particular, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform law.

What list? 

Lalic said DAR should stick to the SC ruling which specified that the land should be distributed to 6,296 farmworker-beneficiaries, one of whom is Bonifacio. He said this list was given by the High Court to DAR.

Delos Reyes however said that they do not have this list. “They could get their lawyers to get it and submit it [to DAR],” he said. He added that those whose names did not appear on the list could file other documentary evidence that they worked in Hacienda Luisita in 1989.

The year 1989 is crucial in determining who should be given the land title or not. Delos Reyes explained that they based the preliminary and provisional lists on the names of farmworkers who worked for Hacienda Luisita since 1989 because of two things: 1.) In May 1989, farmers participated in a referendum where they voted if they wanted to be stockholders in the plantation; 2.) In November 21, 1989, the plantation was placed by the government under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

Delos Reyes said this is where DAR based its list and not on the 2006 list of farmers that Hacienda Luisita Inc. had given to the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council, because the SC decision pegged the just compensation for the land on its 1989 value. 

DAR also conducted two rounds of interviews among 8, 641 applicants to determine the qualified beneficiaries and asked for the following documents: identification cards and birth, marriage, death certificates for the heirs of deceased farmworkers.

DAR also secured SSS records of the employees of Tarlac Development Corp., which formed the Hacienda Luisita Inc.

PARTIAL. Farmers in Hacienda Luisita, Tarlac, get the initial list of recipients of land titles from DAR Sec. Virgilio delos Reyes.

Exclude, include

Bonifacio and other farmworkers who think they should be included in the DAR list has until November 30 to submit additional proof that they had worked in Hacienda Luisita since 1989.

Those who believe that some of the farmworkers should be excluded from both the provisional and preliminary lists also have until November 30 to file a petition for exclusion with DAR. 

Lito Bais, president of the United Luisita Workers Union, said they will examine the list and exclude those who were not “real farmworkers.”

REVIEW. Bais said they will check if the people included by DAR in its lists are legitimate farmers in Hacienda Luisita.

“We will review it. This will help us know who deserve to own land,” he said, adding that Hacienda Luisita has employees who held supervisory positions and should not be counted as beneficiaries.

Next steps

Aside from finalizing its list of beneficiaries, the DAR will also begin its land and segregation survey. DAR has chosen a private firm that will segregate the 4,915.75-hectare HLI agricultural land from the 500-hectare lot that was placed under conversion in 1996 and the 80.51 hectare lot acquired by the government for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) project. 

DAR is also looking for an audit firm that will review the books of HLI and Centennary Holdings Inc. to determine if the P1.3 billion proceeds from the SCTEX project and the 500-hectare lot placed under conversion was used for legitimate corporate purposes. Any unspent balance will be distributed to qualified farmer-beneficiaries, as ordered by the SC. – Rappler.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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