Filtered By: Topstories
News

Corona: They want my head over P10-B stake in Luisita


Embattled Chief Justice Renato Corona on Wednesday maintained that his opposition to the Cojuangco family's P10-billion  "just compensation" claim in the Hacienda Luisita estate in Tarlac was the reason behind attempts to remove him from office.
 
In an exclusive interview on GMA News' "Unang Hirit," Corona reiterated that the impeachment complaint approved by 188 lawmakers in December was connected to the Nov.  22, 2011 Supreme Court decision to distribute the 4,915-hectare sugar plantation to over 6,000 farmer-beneficiaries.
 
"Ngayon, tatanong niyo sa akin, bakit naman gusto kang alisin diyan sa impeachment na iyan? Eh kasi kung hindi ako humaharang sa hinihiling nila na 10 billion sa Hacienda Luisita... iyan ay P10 billion ha, hindi P10 million... Ang hinihingi nila para mabayaran ang Hacienda Luisita [Inc]," Corona said. 
 
"Ako po ang humaharang niyan at para mabayaran iyan, kailangan putulin ang ulo ko at ako'y tanggalin diyan. Iyan ang katotohanan niyan... yan ang punot dulo ng impeachment complaint na ito," he continued.
 
It was not the first time Corona had linked the Hacienda Luisita issue to his trial. Hours before the impeachment trial began on Jan. 16 this year, Corona spoke after the flag raising ceremony at the SC grounds in Manila, where he told the crowd that: "Malaki akong hadlang sa mga nagnanais na hindi matuloy ang pamamahagi ng lupain sa mga magsasaka sa Hacienda Luisita." Again on Feb. 12, Corona mentioned the same in a speech he delivered during the blessing of the Justicia Room of the Ateneo Law School in Rockwell Center, Makati City. "It is about Hacienda Luisita: the P10 billion compensation which the President’s family reportedly wants for the land that was simply lent to them by the government; the need to terrorize and instill a chilling effect on the justices of the Supreme Court to be able to bend their decisions in favor of the Malacañang tenant,” Corona said at the time. But as early as January 14, Malacañang has been denying any link between Corona's impeachment and the Luisita issue.   “How can Aquino want the decision on Hacienda Luisita reversed when it was the position of the government that the Supreme Court upheld?” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte told government-run dzRB radio at the time.
 
On that same day, Valte said the Solicitor General and the Department of Agrarian Reform under Aquino had filed a motion for reconsideration against the validity of the stock distribution option (SDO) for farmers.
On Wednesday, Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) told GMA News TV's "News To Go" that he could not see any connection between the Luisita issue and the impeachment case against Corona.
 
"Kung titignan naitn, ang Articles of Impeachment ay sinusubaybayan po naman natin ang paglilitis sa kanya, kahit minsan hindi nabanggit ang Hacienda Luisita issue," said Carandang.
 
"Sa hinaba-haba ng interview [sa kanya], hindi niya sinagot ang akusasyon sa kanya... I think all he is doing is he is trying to evade the issue," he added. 
 
Carandang said Corona should have instead explained why he only declared P3 million in his 2010 Statement of Assets and Liabilities when testimonies so far made in the impeachment court revealed he had around P30 million at the time.
 
Carandang said the Aquino administration only aims to restore the checks and balances in government as well as the independence of the judiciary, which he said has become partial during the leadership of Corona to favor former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
 
Hacienda Luisita
 
Hacienda Luisita is a vast sugar plantation estate in Tarlac province, owned by members of the Cojuangco family, including the late President Corazon Aquino, mother of incumbent President Benigno Aquino III.
 
In its Nov. 2011 ruling, the high court ordered the distribution of the estate to the farmers but assured the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) of "just compensation" that will be determined based on the land's value in 1989 of P40,000.  "Just compensation” for the 4,335 hectares was calculated to total P173 million.
 
Last Dec. 12, however, the Cojuangco family filed a "Motion to Clarify and Reconsider" the court resolution, saying the 1989 valuation of the land would be wrong.
 
The Cojuangcos insisted that the 2006 market price must instead be used, given that real estate properties in the area have already become profitable due to adjacent malls and posh residential areas.
 
The Cojuangcos said that if the value of the estate would be based on the "comparable sales" or the sales made by HLI to its two subsidiaries (Luisita Realty Corp and Centennary Holdings) in 1997 and 1998, the farmland should be priced at P2.5 million per hectare.
 
That would mean that the Cojuangcos stand to get P9.75 billion in "just compensation," which is 90 percent of the "comparable price" according to an Agrarian Reform Department's formula.
 
In the same SC ruling, the high court ordered the HLI to pay the 6,296 beneficiaries a total of P1,330,511,500 for the sales of a more than 500-hectare part of the estate.
 
These sales are broken down as follows:
 
  • P500 million received by the HLI for the sale of 200 hectares out of the 500 hectares covered by an August 14, 1996 conversion order;
  • P750 million received by the HLI's subsidiary, Centennary Holdings, Inc. for the sale of the remaining 300 hectares from the 500-hectare land; and
  • P80,511,500 paid by the government for the sale of the 80.51-hectare lot used for the construction of the SCTEX road network.
— RSJ/MRT, GMA News
LOADING CONTENT