Land reform could have prevented Hacienda Luisita violence –Duterte

President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday that violent incidents at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac could have been prevented had former President Corazon Aquino included the sugar plantation owned by her family in the land distribution program.

Duterte also clarified that he “never criticized” Aquino, who appointed him officer-in-charge of Davao City in 1986, even as he took issue with her government’s implementation of the land reform program.

“How many killings took place there? Marami ang namatay doon. Sana sinali niya ang [Hacienda] Luisita,” Duterte said in his speech at the oath-taking of newly elected officers of the League of Provinces of the Philippines in Malacañang.

“More than 100 persons died there along the way in the implementation of the land reform. It could have been avoided kung pati 'yung [Hacienda] Luisita sinali niya na noon. She was the president. She was in control of everything.”

On November 16, 2004, seven farmers pressing for land reform in the Tarlac hacienda owned by the Cojuangco clan, the family of Aquino, were killed near the gate of the sugar mill following a dispersal by police and soldiers.

Hacienda Luisita used to occupy 6,435 hectares but over the years, portions of land have been sold to industrial companies.

A stock distribution plan was in place since 1989 when Hacienda Luisita Inc. forged an agreement with thousands of farmers to shares in the corporation instead of land.

The land distribution issue was elevated to the Supreme Court, which decided with finality in 2012 to give the more than 4,300 hectares of land to farmer-beneficiaries.

Last Friday, Duterte said Aquino was only popular “for losing the husband in the hands of Mr. Marcos."

Aquino’s husband, former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., fell by an assassin’s bullet at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983, following a three-year exile in the United States.

Ninoy Aquino's death sparked protests and catapulted Corazon Aquino to the presidency in February 1986 following the ouster of President Ferdinand Marcos in the bloodless People Power Revolution.

Aquino’s youngest child, actress Kris Aquino, on Saturday thanked Duterte for "acknowledging" who was behind her father’s assassination. — DVM, GMA News