Cojuangcos to seek ‘clarification’ on SC decision over Hacienda Luisita
by Philippine News Agency

MANILA – Owners of the disputed Hacienda Luisita sugar plantation in Tarlac province – primarily members of the Cojuangco clan to which President Benigno Aquino III belongs – will ask the Supreme Court next week to “clarify” its  unanimous decision compelling the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to redistribute the huge sugar estate to 6,296 qualified farm worker beneficiaries (FWBs).

Specifically, the hacienda owners want clarification on the date by which valuation for the land will be reckoned, Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) spokesperson Atty. Tony Ligon said at the sides of a forum at Annabel’s Restaurant in Quezon City. “We’ll also request clarification on the number of FWBs who’ll be covered by the land distribution,” he added.

The Supreme Court decision last November 22 affirmed Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) Resolution No. 2005-32-01 dated December 22, 2005, and Resolution No. 2006-34-01 dated May 3, 2006, placing “lands subject of HLI’s stock distribution plan under compulsory coverage on mandated land acquisition scheme of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.”

Ligon dismissed criticism that the planned move is intended to delay the redistribution of the hacienda, the fight for which has lasted decades and at turns had turned bloody.

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