HACIENDA LUISITA: AQUINO'S WATERLOO

Is Cory a saint of democracy.....?

The media portrayed the assassination of Benigno Aquino as an act of heroism. This catapulted his wife, Cory, to the Presidency of the Philippines.

Then the media portrayed President Cory as the restorer of democracy and President Marcos as the villain and evil dictator.

Ever wonder why the media is called the “Fourth Estate?”

The broadcast and print media has the power to move the people to where it wants people to go! And the media has the power to make the people think of what media wants them to think!

When the media portrayed Ninoy as a hero, is there anyone out there who debunked the idea of Ninoy as a Hero. If there was, does the media allowed those people to air or print their views?

When the media portrayed President Cory as restorer of and possible saint of democracy, 14 million Filipinos say Amen!

But, when I think of it, memories came back.

When Martial Law was declared in 1972, I was a fresh civil engineering graduate, from a striving family of a storekeeper and car mechanic.

And up until 1986, I was able to do what I wanted to do and was able work, locally and abroad. And in the process, I was able to buy car, house and lot; sent my daughters to school, pursue my dream of having a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Ateneo Graduate School of Business. Much more elect the people I want.

I did all of these during the “dictatorship” of President Marcos. In essence I was free to do what I wanted to do, and succeed, during the Marcos regime.

So what democracy or freedom does President Cory restored to me when she assumed the presidency of the Philippines?

But the media was able to move the emotion of the 14 million people to think that she is the bearer of the Philippine torch of democracy!

But is she? To this question I offer the following chronology of events of Hacienda Luisita:

1882 –

The Spanish-owned Compaña General de Tabacos de Filipinas (TABACALERA) acquired a land from the Spanish crown which, as the Philippines’ colonial master, had a self-appointed claim on the lands . The land was named Luisita, after Luisa, the wife of the top official of TABACALERA. Tobacco used to be the main crop planted in Luisita.

1920 –

The Spaniards shifted to sugar. Sugar production had become more profitable because demand was guaranteed by the US quota.

1927 –

The Spaniards built the sugar mill Central Azucarera de Tarlac to complement their sugarcane plantation.

The same year, the wealthy Cojuangcos (Jose, Juan, Antonio, and Eduardo) also put up a small sugar mill in Paniqui, Tarlac.

1954 –

Corazon Cojuangco (daughter of Jose Cojuangco Sr.) married Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. with President Ramon Magsaysay as one of the ninongs (sponsor) at the wedding.

1957 –

The Spaniards wanted to sell the sugar mill and hacienda Luisita because of the Huk rebellion and chronic labor problems. President Magsaysay talked to Ninoy Aquino about the possibility of Ninoy’s father-in-law, Jose Cojuangco, Sr. (JCS), acquiring Central Azucarera de Tarlac and Hacienda Luisita from the Spaniards.

The Spaniards want to be paid in dollar for the controlling interest in Central Azucarera de Tarlac. JCS applied for a 10-year, $2.1 million loan with the Manufacturer’s Trust Company (MTC) in New York.

To facilitate the loan of JCS, and because of JCS strong influence with the government, the Central Bank of the Philippines (CBP) deposited part of the Philippines’ international reserves with the MTC!

The CBP did this on conditions that JCS would buy the 6,443-hectare Hacienda Luisita,

    * “…with a view to distributing this hacienda to small farmers in line with the Administration’s social justice
                        program”

within ten (10) years after acquisition. (Central Bank Monetary Board Resolution No. 1240, August 27, 1957).

JCS applied with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for a P7 million loan to finance the purchase of Hacienda Luisita. Specific condition of JCS application states that

  * “…4,000 hectares of the hacienda would be made available to bona-fide sugar planters, while the balance
                        2,453 hectares would be distributed to barrio residents who will pay for them on installment.”

Through its Resolution No. 1085 of May 7, 1957 and Resolution No. 3202 of November 25, 1957, the GSIS approved a P5.9 million loan of JCS, on condition that Hacienda Luisita would be

    * “…subdivided among the tenants who shall pay the cost thereof under reasonable terms and conditions.”

1958 –

Upon the request of JCS, and through its Resolution No. 356 of February 5, 1958, GSIS amended the phrase to read

    * “. . . shall be sold at cost to tenants, should there be any.”

On April 8, 1958, Tarlac Development Corporation (TADECO) owned by JCS, became the new owner of Hacienda Luisita and Central Azucarera de Tarlac.

And Ninoy Aquino was appointed the hacienda’s first administrator.

Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) was the lawyer of TABACALERA when JCS took over the management of Hacienda Luisita  and JCS retained him after the sale.

1967 –

Ten years after, the condition set forth in Central Bank Monetary Board Resolution No. 1240 of August 27, 1957, to distribute the land of Hacienda Luisita to the small farmers was not implemented.

    * The farm workers began to organize themselves to uphold their cause.

Ninoy Aquino became a senator. His entry into national politics and link with Kumander Dante (Bernabe Buscayno) of the NPA marked the start of his bitter rivalry with President Ferdinand Marcos.

On March 2, 1967, the government sent the first follow-up letter, written by Conrado Estrella of the Land Authority, to TADECO for the distribution of Haceinda Luisita to the farmers.

1972 –

Marcos declared Martial Law and Sen. Benigno Aquino was arrested because of his alleged link with the NPA and alleged involvement in the August 21, 1971 bombing of Plasa Miranda (he was assassinated on the same date, 12 years later on August 21, 1983).

1977 –

Central Bank Governor Gregorio Licaros wrote on May 5, 1977 a follow letter for the surrender of Hacienda Luisita for the implementation of Central Bank Monetary Board Resolution No. 1240, of August 27, 1957

1978 –

Agrarian Reform Deputy Minister Ernesto Valdez wrote on May 23, 1978 another follow-up letter to TADECO for the surrender of Hacienda Luisita to the government.

1980 -

On May 7, 1980 the government filed a case against TADECO for the surrender of Hacienda Luisita to the Ministry of Agrarian Reform, so the land could be distributed to the farmers at cost, in accordance with the terms of the government loans given in 1957-1958 to the late Jose Cojuangco, Sr., who died in 1976. (Republic of the Philippines vs. TADECO, Civil Case No. 131654, Manila Regional Trial Court, Branch XLIII).

The government’s lawsuit was portrayed by the anti-Marcos bloc as an act of harassment against Ninoy Aquino’s family.

    * Inside Hacienda Luisita, however, the farmers thought the wheels of justice were finally turning and land 
                      distribution was coming.

1981 –

In January 10, 1981, TADECO responded that the Central Bank and GSIS resolutions were unenforceable because there were no tenants on Hacienda Luisita.

1983 –

On August 21, 1983, Ninoy Aquino was assassinated.

It is significant to recall that one of the reasons why he was arrested was his alleged involvement in the August 21, 1971 Plasa Miranda bombing.

1985 –

In December 2, 1985, the Manila Regional Trial Court ordered TADECO to surrender Hacienda Luisita  to the Ministry of Agrarian Reform. The Cojuangcos elevated the case to the Court of Appeals (Court of Appeals G.R. 08634).

On December 3, 1985 Cory Aquino officially announced her candidacy for the 1986 Snap Election. Land reform was one of the pillars of her campaign.

1986 –

On January 6, 1986, Aquino stated in her campaign speech in Makati that;

    * “We are determined to implement a genuine land reform program . . . to enable [beneficiaries] to become 
                          self-reliant and rosperous farmers.”

On January 16, 1986, she delivered her second major speech in Davao and said;

    * “Land-to-the-tiller must become a reality, instead of an empty slogan.”

And in the same speech, Aquino also stated that;

    * “You will probably ask me: Will I also apply it to my family’s Hacienda Luisita? My answer is yes.”

These campaign promises would haunt her for many years to come. To this day, it haunts her son.

Marcos was declared the Presidential winner of the February 7, 1986 snap election but was ousted by the February 22 EDSA revolution led by JPE (the 1958 lawyer of the Cojuangcos on the acquisition of Hacienda Luista)  and Fidel V. Ramos.

On February 25, 1986 Cory Aquino was sworn in as President. She named her running mate Salvador “Doy” Laurel Prime Minister through Presidential Proclamation No. 1.

A month later, she issued Presidential Proclamation No. 3 declaring a revolutionary government and dissolving the 1973 Constitution. This nullified Laurel’s position as Prime Minister, and abolished the Batasang Pambansa (Parliament). She announced that a new Constitution was going to be formed. Legislative powers were to reside with the President until elections were held.

1987 –

On January 22, 1987, the Mendiola massacre happened.

Thousands of frustrated farmers marched to Malacañang asking for the fulfillment of Cory’s campaign promises specifically about land reform and the distribution of the Hacienda Luisita’s lands at no cost to beneficiaries.

On February 11, 1987, the new 1987 Constitution took effect.

On July 22, 1987, she issued Presidential Proclamation 131 and Executive Order No. 229 outlining her land reform program that included sugar and coconut lands in its expanded coverage.

A provision for the Stock Distribution Option (SDO), a mode of complying with the land reform law, was included in her outline.

On May 11, 1987 the first election for the house of representative and the senate was held.

Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE), then Senate Minority Floor Leader, in his first privilege speech, called it as a “midnight decree”, since it was issued just days before the legislative powers of President Aquino were to revert back to Congress on July 28, 1987, the first regular session of the new Congress after the May 1987 elections. The timing insured the passage of the SDO.

On September 16, 1987, Laurel formally broke ties with President Aquino.

The New York Times reported that Laurel confronted Aquino about her promise in 1985 to let him run the government as Prime Minister, because she had no experience.

And this was the reason Laurel agreed to shelve his own plan to run for President and put his party’s resources behind Aquino during the snap elections.

“I believed you,” Laurel told Mrs. Aquino, she just listened without response, Laurel said, as quoted by the New York Times.

1988 –

The Aquino administration through Solicitor General Frank Chavez, an Aquino appointee, filed a motion for the dismissal of the government case against TADECO saying the lands of Hacienda Luisita were going to be distributed anyway through the new agrarian reform law.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the GSIS, headed by Aquino appointees Philip Juico and Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte respectively, posed no objection to the motion to dismiss the case.

The Central Bank, headed by Marcos appointee Jose B. Fernandez, said it would not pose objection if the Department of Agrarian Reform has determined that the distribution of Hacienda Luisita to small farmers would be achieved under the comprehensive agrarian reform program.

On May 18,1988, the Court of Appeals dismissed the case filed in 1980 by the Philippine government—under Marcos—against the Cojuangco company TADECO to compel the handover of Hacienda Luisita.

On June 8, 1989, JPE, delivered a privilege speech questioning the insertion of the SDO in her outline for the land reform law. He also questioned the Executive Order No. 229 that gives power to Aquino to preside over the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC), the body that would approve SDO programs, including the one for Hacienda Luisita.

JPE, also questioned the motion filed by the Aquino administration’s for the withdrawal of the government’s case against TADECO that would compel land distribution of Hacienda Luisita to farmers.

These, according to JPE, were indications that Aquino had taken advantage of the powers of the presidency to circumvent land reform and allowed the Cojuangcos to remain in control of Hacienda Luisita.

On June 10, 1988, President Aquino signed the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARP). Hacienda Luisita was put under the SDO that President Aquino included in the law.

This provision allowed landlords to comply with the land reform law without giving land to farmers.

2004 –

On November 16, 2004 the dispersal of striking farm workers of Hacienda Luisita resulted to the death of 14 persons. The incident was known as the Hacienda Luisita Massacre.

2010 –

Chief Justice Renato Corona order the review the Hacienda Luisita land dispute.

With all the things President Cory did in regard to Hacienda Luisita, is she could even be considered a leader of democracy much more a saint?