Cory's Hacienda

Posted by Alecks Pabico 
PCIJ

IN a rather cheeky challenge, the peasants' group Task Force Mapalad has raised the anté on the Department of Land Reform (DLR) to dispel suspicions of political vendetta surrounding its recent r evocation of the stock distribution option at the 5,000-hectare Hacienda Luisita. Its dare: to finally install farmers from agrarian reform hotspots in Negros Occidental, particularly in lands formerly owned by the family of the First Gentleman, Jose Miguel 'Mike' Arroyo and business tycoon Eduardo 'Danding' Cojuangco.

With 8,000 members in 300 haciendas in Negros Occidental, Task Force Mapalad has called on DLR officer-in-charge Nasser Pangandaman to exercise his political will in other test cases beyond Hacienda Luisita to prove that its decision is not merely politically motivated.

TFM president Jose Rodito Angeles says that while they welcomes DLR's recent decision as long-overdue, his group is wary that the reason appears less out of a genuine commitment to defend the rights of exploited farmers than a retaliatory move against former Pres. Corazon Aquino, a vocal critic of Arroyo and whose family owns Hacienda Luisita.

"The Arroyo administration's sudden enlightenment on agrarian problems besetting Hacienda Luisita contrasts with its apparent selective blindness with regard to agrarian problems in Negros haciendas," claims Angeles.

Negros is dubbed as the "final frontier" in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) with the highest backlog in land acquisition and distribution (LAD) among the country's 78 provinces.

Citing 2004 government data, TFM says the province's share of the national LAD balance of 100,216 hectares, about 15 percent, consists mostly of large sugar estates (haciendas) still under the control of influential landowners.

TFM's own data cites at least four Arroyo landholdings that have yet to be distributed to farmer-beneficiaries because of  the "evasive tactics" of the Arroyo family. The said lands include: 

• Hacienda Grande which was chopped into 40 titles of five hectares each and named to 27 companies, seven individuals, a foundation and a homeowner's association to evade its acquisition under CARP. Though the sugar land had been subdivided to various owners, it was leased to Antonio Trebol since 1994 in violation of Section 6 of Republic Act 6657 which prohibits the lease of agricultural lands upon the effectivity of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law or on June 15, 1988.

• The 97-hectare Hacienda Bacan in Brgy. Guintubhan, Isabela owned by Mike Arroyo and Rep. Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo earlier placed under compulsory acquisition (CA). The distribution to FBs of the hacienda was stalled because the DLR tolerated the landowners' delaying tactics. Based on DLR data, the estate was sold to Mike Arroyo by Rivulet Agro-Industrial Corp. whose president was Iggy Arroyo. Mike voluntarily offered to sell (VOS) the land for CARP.

• Portions of the 118-hectare Hacienda Olimbo in Brgy. Calapi, Hinigaran owned by Mike Arroyo's uncle Pedro Arroyo. Some 48 hectares of the land are still without certificates of landownership award. This remaining area for CARP was allegedly a subject of illegal subdivisions titled to new owners such as the Geronimos, Aranetas and Montenegros, all of whom are relatives of the Arroyos.

• The 89-hectare Hacienda Alipion in Brgy. Lalagsan, La Castellana, also owned by Antonio Arroyo which has not yet been issued a notice of coverage (NOC) by the DLR.

In the case of Danding Cojuangco's vast landholdings, TFM's Angeles says the corporative scheme — "anti-farmer Cojuangco version of CARP" — which did not take off in previous administrations has finally succeeded under the Arroyo administration.

Only recently, the joint venture agreement between Cojuangco and  farmer-beneficiaries over the businessman's properties involving 11 haciendas in Negros Occidental with an area of 4,863 hectares has been formalized. Supposedly Danding's partners in the Southern Negros Joint Venture Corp. (SNJVC), the farmers have been treated as mere farm workers, getting paid only P5,000 every six months while Cojuangco maintains control over the land. 

Moreover, TFM claims, Cojuangco chairs the corporation, controls eight out of 12 members of SNJVC's board of directors, and 70 percent of the total equity.