THE Supreme Court has ordered the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita (Ambala) to explain why they should not be held in contempt of court for failing to comply with its 2011 decision mandating the total distribution of the 4,915.75-hectare Hacienda Luisita, a vast sugar plantation owned by the family of former President Benigno Aquino III, to farmer-beneficiaries.
In an en banc resolution dated May 3, the Court gave DAR and Ambala a non-extendible period of 10 days to submit their respective explanations.
The show cause order was issued in response to the motion filed by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. on April 27, 2017, which claimed that Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano violated the Court ruling, which directed the DAR to segregate, among other parcels, a 500-hectare lot that had already been converted into industrial land under a conversion order issued by the DAR itself.
Included in this area is the 184 hectares belonging to RCBC.
RCBC also said that the Court had already ruled that the conditions of the conversion order covering the property had been met.
On April 23, 2017, farm workers and various militant groups staged a rally in front of RCBC properties claiming rights to the land by virtue of the DAR’s revocation order.
The rally later on escalated to violence against RCBC’s personnel and destruction of its properties.
The SC also ordered DAR to comment on RCBC’s motion.
“Acting on the urgent motion for the issuance of a writ of execution and/or cease and desist dated April 27, 2017, the Court resolved to require respondents Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano and Alyansa ng mga Mangagawang Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita (Ambala) to comment thereon and show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court for disobeying thee decision dated July 5, 2011 and the resolutions dated November 22, 2011 and April 24, 2012 both within a non-extendible period of 10 days from notice hereof,” the Court said.
In its July 5, 2011 decision, the Court upheld the validity of the order issued by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC), which revoked the stock distribution option plan (SDO) that have been offered to the original 6,296 farmer beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita, in lieu of land distribution, which is mandated under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
But the Court affirmed with modification PARC’s Resolution No. 2005-32-01 issued on Dec. 22, 2005 by allowing the original farmer-beneficiaries to choose to remain as stockholders of HLI or get the land due to them.
In a resolution issued on Nov. 22, 2011, the Court modified its July 5, 2011 decision by directing the total distribution of the plantation to its farmer-beneficiaries.
The tribunal granted the partial motions for reconsideration filed by Presidential Agrarian Reform Council and the Department of Agrarian Reform, Alyansa ng mga Mangagawang Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita, and the Farmworkers Agrarian Reform Movement Inc. seeking to recall and set aside its decision with respect to the option granted to the farmworker-beneficiaries to remain with HLI through the stock distribution plan.