An organization of farmer-beneficiaries from Hacienda Luisita have filed a petition before the Supreme Court questioning the methods used by the Department of Agrarian Reform to distribute the vast Tarlac sugar estate owned of the Cojuangco clan, to which President Benigno Aquino III belongs. The omnibus motion filed Wednesday by the Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita, or AMBALA, asked the high court to: Order the DAR to clarify the basis of the survey of the land Order the DAR to explain the discrepancy in the number of hectares for distribution to the farmworkers- beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita, Inc Allow the appointment of a geodetic engineer or surveyor to validate the survey conducted by the DAR Disallow the raffle or “tambiolo” system of land distribution or allocation Allow the collective ownership of the land by the farmworkers-beneficiaries Stop the DAR from collecting amortization payments from the farmworkers-beneficiaries Stop the DAR from compelling the farmworkers-beneficiaries to sign the Application to Purchase and Farmers’ Undertaking Order the DAR to engage Ocampo Mendoza Leung and Lim, the audit firm of choice of the farmworkers, to audit HLI and Centenary Holdings (Click here to read the full petition) AMBALA legal counsel Jobert Pahilga, in a statement, said these issues are the same ones they have raised with DAR several times but which the agency has allegedly continued to ignore. DAR raffled off the initial batch of “lot allocation certificates” to more than 300 farmers in Barangay Cutcut, Tarlac City late last week. The agency said it would distribute 4,099 hectares of the more than 6,000-hectare estate to 6,212 beneficiaries, or around 6,600 square meters for each farmer. However, AMBALA said the land for distribution should be 4,335.6 hectares, citing the Supreme Court’s July 5, 2011 decision, affirmed in two subsequent resolutions. The group dismissed DAR’s explanation that it computed the land to be distributed after excluding residential areas, canals, roads, firebreaks, buffer zones, lagoons, fishponds, eroded areas, legal easements and a cemetery.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 07:02:45 +0000
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