Philippine President’s Family Ordered to Distribute Farmland

The Philippines’ highest court ordered on Thursday that a sprawling sugar estate controlled by President Benigno Aquino’s family be given to more than 6,000 farmers who had worked there for years. The ruling was hailed as a victory for peasants in the impoverished Philippines, who have long struggled to break the stranglehold of powerful political clans on the country’s rich agricultural lands. “This has been a 50-year struggle already and this is a victory not only for these farmers, but for the many who are similarly situated,” said Romeo Capulong, a lawyer for the farmers. 

“This gives hope to thousands of farmers who are continually being oppressed, that they too can dream to one day own the land they till.” However Capulong said he expected Aquino’s relatives would file an appeal, and that no distribution of land on the estate known as Hacienda Luisita would happen until the case was deemed “final and executory.” 

In the Philippines’ legal system, parties can appeal a verdict from its highest court, and the Hacienda Luisita case could still drag on for years. In a 54-page ruling posted on its Web site, the Supreme Court sided with the farmers’ demand for their own land rather than acquire stock options and continue as salaried workers, as Aquino’s relatives had planned. It ordered the 4,915-hectare estate to be distributed among 6,296 farmers and their families who had been tilling the land for more than 50 years. 

The battle over the estate’s ownership has allowed Aquino’s critics to portray the popular president’s family as a greedy political dynasty. Aquino’s spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, emphasized on Thursday that the president had sold his 1 percent stake in the farm shortly after taking office. 

But it remains under the control of Aquino’s late mother’s family, the Cojuangcos — one of the most influential clans in Philippine politics. The dispute stems from a land reform law passed by Aquino’s mother, Corazon Aquino, when she was president in the 1980s. 

The law was meant to give farmers ownership of the land they worked on, but it was watered down from tougher intended legislation. This allowed the Aquino-Cojuangco clan and other powerful families to use controversial exemptions and loopholes to keep the land.