Maybe,
but don't count on it
One of the last vestiges of the Philippines’ feudal
past is finally coming to an end. Or is it really?
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled with finality to
award Hacienda Luisita, the vast tract of land owned by the Cojuangco side of
the family of President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III, to their tenants and farm
workers, more than 20 years after a landmark land reform law was passed during
the presidency of the late Corazon Aquino, herself a third generation
Cojuangco.
It is expected to take some time to sort out the
details of the land distribution. And, given the vagaries of law and politics
in the Philippines, there is always the chance that delay will play to the
advantage of the Cojuanco family.
The 5,000-odd-hectare estate, the second-biggest in
the Philippines, is the crown jewel of the family, who gained control over the
land in the 1950s when the late President Ramon Magsaysay feared that the
powerful Lopez family of Iloilo would gain control over the land. Magsaysay
sold it instead to Jose Cojuangco, Noynoy Aquino’s grandfather. Noynoy divested
his interest in the property before taking office in 2010.
The failure of the government and the courts to
force redistribution of the land has come to symbolize the sway of the
so-called Twelve Families, the oligarchs who for most of the country’s modern
history have controlled the sinews of the economy.
Located in Tarlac in Central Luzon, a bastion of
feudal lords and peasant uprisings, Hacienda Luisita was a lucrative sugar cane
plantation throughout the Spanish, American and Japanese colonial and
occupation periods. It served as the headquarters for the US Gen. Douglas
MacArthur when he liberated the Philippines in 1945.
The Cojuangcos continued to reap the windfalls
during the heyday of the sugar industry until a devastating crisis hit the
sector from which it hasn’t fully recovered. Then the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Law (Republic Act 6657) was passed in 1988 covering all tenanted and
agricultural lands in excess of five hectares throughout the country.
Although many met the agrarian reform law with
skepticism, tenants welcomed the Hacienda Luisita coverage only to be
frustrated when the Cojuangco family opted for a stock distribution scheme to
effectively maintain control of the land. That didn’t satisfy the farmers, who
rallied at the gates of the plantation on Nov. 16, 2004, demanding fairer wages
and a greater commitment for the promised land reforms. They were met with
police and soldiers who stormed their blockade. Twelve picketing farmers were
shot in what has become known as the Hacienda Luisita massacre. Two children
were also were killed and hundreds were injured.
The peasants went to the court. It took more than
two decades before the court recognized their ownership over the land.
Faced with the prospect of finally ceding control
over the vast prime property, the Cojuangco family sought a compensation
package that is designed to further enrich the clan.
Unfortunately or fortunately, an adversarial Supreme
Court now holds sway and an impeached Supreme Court Chief Justice, Renato
Corona, is one of President Aquino’s political arch-enemies, along with former
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who appointed Corona to the office along
with most of the other members of the court.
Hacienda Luisita has even become a side issue in
Corona’s continuing impeachment trial. In its most recent decision regarding
the property, the Supreme Court ruled that the compensation package should be
pegged at 1989 prices, the year when RA 6657 was passed into law.
It is a decision that can be viewed as a frontal
attack against the president and his family, and one that would deprive the
Cojuangco family of a portion of their economic base. At the same time it
ensures that the political vendetta between Aquino and Arroyo will continue to
dominate the former’s presidency. Aquino, who was barred from leaving the
country in a dramatic detention at Ninoy Aquino Airport – named for the current
president’s assassinated father – remains in detention as President Aquino
seeks to bring her to justice on charges of massive corruption, election fraud
and plundering the state during her 10-year presidency.
The Corona-controlled Supreme Court, however, is
widely perceived as an installed ally of Arroyo.
For now, the peasants who lost so many of their
protesting colleagues and comrades fighting for the right to own the land can
cherish the sweet smell of victory. The victory would have been sweeter if it
hadn’t come under the present political situation. It was victory nevertheless.
But the peasants, after going through all the stages
of their struggles, are fully aware that while the battle has been won, the war
is not over. Until the last of the Cojuangcos are out of Hacienda Luisita, they
still cannot declare a complete victory. That is a legitimate concern. Nothing
is ever really over in the Philippines.
Edwin Espejo
Asia Sentinel
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