Cojuangco family says it will cooperate in Luisita distribution

 

In a statement issued by the family's lawyer Antonio Ligon, the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) said it will "embrace" the high court's ruling, specially since distributing the land will be a "glowing legacy" of President Benigno Aquino III's mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, a member of the Cojuangco clan.

 

The HLI noted how the former president "decisively moved" to place the sugar plantation under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

 

"The Cojuangco family expresses its full confidence that the SC decision regarding the fate of Hacienda Luisita is a just resolution for all parties concerned,” the HLI said.

 

“Now that the high court maintains that land distribution is the only resolution, the Cojuangco family guarantees its full cooperation in the expeditious completion of this process and puts all other issues to rest,” it added.

 

In a landmark ruling, the high court on Tuesday, voting 14-0, affirmed its November 2011 decision to totally distribute the sugar plantation to more than 6,000 beneficiaries.

 

The court, voting 8-6, also ruled that the lower 1989 valuation of the property should be used to compute the just compensation to be paid to the HLI for distributing the farmland.

 

Reacting to the decision, Ligon said: "The majority of the justices have spoken. HLI shall abide and will comply promptly with what is required by the decision."

 

As to the court's ruling on just compensation, the HLI said: “We will await the processes in compliance with the determination of just compensation provided for in the law.”

 

The Department of Agrarian Reform has already assured the public that it is prepared to implement the SC ruling.

 

The DAR also clarified that the determination of the initial valuation of the Hacienda Luisita land rests upon the Land Bank of the Philippines taking into consideration the conditions set by the SC and other existing applicable guidelines.

 

Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes was earlier quoted as saying that it will take at least one year before the plantation gets distributed to the farmers, adding that the government still has to conduct a valuation, an ocular inspection, and the identification of the beneficiaries.  — RSJ/HS, GMA News