Tarlac City council opposes SDO at Hacienda Luisita

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – The 12-member council of Tarlac City has come out with a resolution, saying that the recent Supreme Court’s order for a referendum on stock distribution option (SDO) among farmfolk “will only obfuscate the real objective of land reform.”

This, even as hacienda farmers filed Wednesday a motion for reconsideration on the decision ordering a referendum to determine the preference of farmers between land distribution and SDO.

The city council adopted Resolution No. 293 which said that while the council welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict last July 5, “we view with concern the modification contained in the same decision which states that the farm worker-beneficiaries shall have the option to remain as stock holders of Hacienda Luisita, Inc.”

City councilor Emily Facunla personally delivered a copy of the resolution to members of the Alyansang Magbubukid ng Hacienda Luisita (Ambala) who were holding a camp-out in Barangay Balite of the hacienda.

Facunla is the sister of councilor Abel Ladera, a supporter of the farmers, who was killed in Tarlac on March 3, 2005.

The land issue at the hacienda surfaced anew after the Supreme Court issued last July 5 an order junking a verdict of Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) and the DAR in 2005 revoking SDO.

The high court also ordered the holding of another referendum among the hacienda’s 6,000 workers to determine their preference between land distribution and SDO.

In its resolution, the Tarlac City council stressed that a “referendum will only obfuscate the real objective of land reform which is to give land to the tillers.”

“The farmworkers are very happy with the visit of councilor Facunla, especially when she expressed support of the ‘bungkalan’ farming at the hacienda.

She is the first government official, aside from the barangay officials, who visited the camp-out,” said Fidel Castro, vice chairman of the Alyansang ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson (AMGL).

Castro said Ambala members have occupied land within the hacienda fenced by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) in Balite since July 15 and have prepared the area for cultivation.

The property was bought by RCBC from the Cojuangcos despite the dispute with hacienda farmers. “The farmers have surveyed more than 10 hectares of one-hectare parcels and used tractors to plow the land.

The RCBC fenced about 184-hectares of land to be converted into an industrial park for Japanese companies,” Castro said.

He said “RCBC could not have purchased the land without knowing. It should resolve its problem with the Cojuangco-Aquinos and not prohibit the farmworkers who are the legitimate owners of the land.”

Ambala officers said that they are “on the stage of finalizing the list of beneficiaries of the land so that the farm workers could immediately work on their land.” –Punto Central Luzon, Philippine Star