CONSUMERS DEMAND!
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/5-11/2011
When poverty worsens despite an embarrassingly slow yet supposedly growing economy, then something is obviously very wrong in a country’s economic direction.
The Philippines reportedly attained rates of up to 5 to 6% (peaking at 7% in 2010) due to inflationary election spending. But this year, growth rates have dropped to no more than 4% by year-end.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) reports that in the past decade, only the Philippines was able to attain modest increases in annual growth rates of around 1% but with the irony of increasing the number of the poor (by over three million families).
True State of the Economy
Meanwhile, in other countries, every 1% GDP increase generally resulted in an average 1.4% decrease in poverty levels while in Asian countries, the decrease in poverty became as high as 2%.
We drill these facts into our readers so that we can keep sight of the utmost priority of achieving a consensus on the true state of the economy and what we should do about it.
OpinYon readers are mostly from the educated middle and upper classes.
I know they are conscientious citizens like Chris, Richard, Zaida and many others who tune in to my daily weekday 5 to 6 p.m. radio program over 1098AM, or those who text me their comments about the many articles of OpinYon.
It is this class that can really do something about changing the country, but only if a consensus is attained that is enough to mobilize around 3% of the population in Metro Manila into action toward specific reforms in our economic system.
That 3%, making up at least 300,000 citizens of the 10 million estimated daytime population of this metropolis, can act as one in calling for specific economic policy reforms.
That is the ideal number for a mass base that can mobilize for a demonstration or rally for issues that will, without fail, call the attention of policy makers, politicians, and institutions -- and scare the daylights out of them should they choose not to heed this call.
Not even the Media Force
However, a 300,000-strong mass base, ideal as it is, may not have the wherewithal to be together in all demonstrations and rallies.
Even if only a sixth of that were to physically join, it would already be sufficient to jar the powers-that-be into serious response.
At the same time, this mass base can influence and shape national perception.
Mainstream media obviously won’t be able to stay blind to such a force even if their owners may want to mute or suppress the economic issues being raised by such a crowd, as they are wont to do.
As we explained in our last OpinYon article (which cited the concurring study of the think tank, Stratbase), the root of the Philippine economic crisis is the oligarchy that monopolizes all the country’s wealth, leaving the population, including the middle class, drained of the means to sustain a decent standard of living or to hope for a better future.
What will we do about it?
For the past year and a half in this space, we (along with our long missed colleague, Butch Junia) have incessantly drilled in the problem of massive abuse and plunder of our people by the privatized electricity generation and distribution companies (such as Metro Pacific, Benpres, Aboitiz Power, Alsons) that are all owned by no more than a handful of families.
We have also consistently exposed the same grand larceny of the privatized water utility companies that have grown fat and powerful on the backs of water consumers and taxpayers with tax holidays, exorbitant rates and, among many other things, government write-offs of massive debts, such as that of the Lopezes’ over P8 billion loans (according to party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy) that were magically made to disappear by the DBP.
And that’s just one of the many examples of how the oligarchy is at the root of the continuing decline of the Filipino people’s welfare and fortunes.
The only question remaining is what we will do about it.
Occupy Meralco
I believe that by now a mass base of more than 300,000 citizens are already aware of such evils.
In fact, millions are now even enraged.
For one, we have seen business groups and conservative labor movements, from the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, join the clamor for action to lower power rates.
The Church, for its part, has also become aware, as my appeal to Fr. Rudy Abao of the Santa Quiteria parish, was immediately heeded by a commitment to support an “Occupy Meralco” proposal I advanced.
The only thing lacking at this point is a consolidation of the forces as well as the leadership to organize the forces that will act to alleviate the dire straits of the people and the economy into one powerful thrust.
Campaign vs. corporate greed
Let me cite one example of how this is already happening on a smaller scale.
Last week, this news developed: “Bishop leads PH version of campaign vs. corporate greed… Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said that the campaign aims to make the poor ‘the center of development and making the government accountable for the welfare of the majority’… the movement Kilusang 99% (K99%) will be launched this week…
"Pabillo, who is also the chairman of the National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, clarified that their movement is… directed… at the financial system that has bred social injustice, economic imbalance, corporate greed and the darkest side of capitalism.
"‘What is happening now is that the government is just at the backseat and they [government officials] just let the market, which seeks profit and not the common good, dictate. We really need to talk before it’s too late.’”
Action Long Overdue
Current events continue to remind us that action to turn the economic situation around is long overdue.
Consider these developments: A report from Cliff Harvey C. Venson “MPIC airs interest in state hospital... METRO PACIFIC Investments Corp. (MPIC) may join the bidding for the modernization of Philippine Orthopedic Center, one of the public-private partnerships (PPP) set to be rolled out next year”; and another, Big Three oil companies remain most profitable...
"The country’s Big Three oil companies remain the most profitable in the industry, according to the DOE... Petron Corp. posted the heftiest profit of P7.92 billion last year, followed by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. with P6.02 billion, and Chevron Philippines Inc., P1.43 billion. Total (Philippines) Corp. and Liquigaz Philippines Corp. earned P375 million and P183 million, respectively. PTT Philippines Corp., however, lost P233 million in 2010. Excluding Petron, the above companies are units of foreign oil firms.”
Oil Firms' Bonanza
Metro Pacific acquired its financial clout from exploiting our consumers’ payment to its companies in telecoms (which have one of the highest rates in the world) and, now, with revenues from Meralco.
The oil companies’ bonanza started with the deregulation of the oil industry in the 90s to the detriment of everybody else in the country--except, of course, for the local oligarchs like the Ayalas, Aquino-Cojuangcos et al. who are, in turn, partners of the foreign oligarchy.
Meanwhile, news about the economy in general are just as bleak: “Q3 result a letdown... ECONOMIC GROWTH slowed drastically to just 3.2% in the third quarter, dragged down by a weak agriculture sector and a plunge in construction activity” ; “Metrobank warns remittances to slow next year… Mabellene Reynaldo, Metrobank research analyst, said the political and civil unrest in North Africa and the Middle East continue to escalate.
"Saudi Arabia’s Nitaqat system, under which foreign workers are allowed only six years residency, would also slow down remittance inflows in the following quarters.”
Economic Policy Adrift
Some more dire news, this time from a Star columnist: “BPOs won't be economy's savior... Norio Usui, ADB senior country economist, told a meeting of what’s left of our local manufacturing sector that despite the strong growth of the BPO sector since 2001, the country’s unemployment and underemployment rates have remained high.
"To the ADB economist, the country’s economy should walk on two legs: services and manufacturing if we want inclusive growth.”
All told, our national economic policy is adrift because it is the oligarchs who are controlling the government for their own profit.
And all they say is “damn the people.” As such, we need to gather--as one--and plan our actions to reform the nation, through a national summit for all concerned citizens and groups to come together to plot this out.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Friday, December 9, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
An 'Angie Reyes redux'?
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/5/2011
The only moment my interest in the ongoing drama between Gloria Arroyo and the Yellow government perked up was when the former’s mouthpiece, Elena Bautista-Horn, broached the idea of a “Put the Little Girl to Sleep” plot brewing--hence, the PeNoy government’s obsession to put the “little girl” in a government hospital where it could be carried out.
At first, I reacted to it as I would to any joke; but on second thought I realized that there are many, many parties who would like to permanently bury their fears of whatever beans GMA may someday spill about them. For starters, there’s a host of oligarchs who used her government to obtain their behest loans and sweetheart deals that were all injurious to the people. There are still more military and police generals, who raked in billions under her watch, dreading the prospect of being exposed. Then, there are the geopolitical twists, which the US fears Gloria can fiddle with to save her hide.
That last notion gained provenance when I saw on the History Channel the feature on the “Ampatuan Massacre” and the manner in which the American producers portrayed Arroyo and stressed her closeness to the Ampatuans. To most Filipinos, this is an obvious fact; but to an analyst of US full spectrum propaganda and cultural warfare like me, this is a significant half-truth.
True, Arroyo depended on the Ampatuans for election engineering, but so did PeNoy’s mother, Corazon Aquino, who was the one who raised the Ampatuans from small-time provincial warlords to full-fledged major ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao) players as a counterfoil to the Muslim politicians of the Marcos era.
We also know from Yellow sources that PeNoy was, in fact, scheduled to visit the Ampatuans for his 2007 senatorial bid just before the massacre took place, and only then--like every other politician who used to beeline to the clan for their vote additions--did he avoid the Ampatuans like the plague.
The bias of US political strategists for the Aquinos and (currently) against Arroyo was evident in the WikiLeaks-obtained e-mails of the US Embassy in Manila to its home office. There, it was shown that the 2005 Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) decision on the distribution of Hacienda Luisita land to its farmers was followed with concern. The embassy also interpreted that order as Gloria’s way of getting back at Cory, supposedly after the latter joined the so-called Hyatt 10’s Arroyo ouster call on July 11 of that year--a move that had all the markings of a US-sanctioned operation. Back then, Arroyo was already getting much too playful with Chinese interests at a time when the “Hello Garci” exposé became too much of a liability for the US-aligned ruling class here.
Before that, things were pretty honky dory between the two: Cory, after spearheading Edsa II, gave Gloria her all-out support through several military mutinies, even raising her hand after the Oakwood incident. In the 2004 polls, they were together in preventing an FPJ win. Later, Gloria gave the Aquino-Cojuangcos military support which led to the Hacienda Luisita massacre.
Despite former US Ambassador Kristie Kenney’s fondness for Arroyo, the US State Department clearly didn’t fancy her anymore midway through the previous decade. Still, none of that constitutes any real possibility that they have any interest to do her in. It’s the domestic elements that have connived and conspired with Gloria where any danger could come.
Just as unseen forces snuffed the life out of PeNoy’s father, Ninoy Aquino, those out to sow chaos by creating a trigger for a major destabilization move or to cover up for a brewing major scandal, may well decide that putting the little girl to sleep would fit their desired scenario perfectly.
On the other hand, it could simply be a case of the little girl wanting to put herself to sleep, seeing that her “castle in the air” has crumbled despite the meticulously planned Aquinorroyo zarzuela and other defense or exit strategies.
But would Gloria Arroyo do an Angie Reyes (assuming Angie Reyes really did himself in)? As far as lawyer and legal icon Alan Paguia is concerned, that case still cannot be closed until all the legal requirements are met (which haven’t). Besides, the supposedly grieving Reyes family is now enjoying a few hundred millions of public money, which they apparently no longer have to account for. But, as the former Edsa II general purportedly took his life due to “honor,” the danger of an Angie Reyes redux for Gloria is diminished since she has none of it.
The only real danger to Arroyo probably will come from what President Joseph Estrada and his senator-son Jinggoy have warned about: The wily rodents at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center.
On a more serious note, these have come out in various international media since our last column “A creeping World War III:” From GlobalResearch, “So concerned has the Kremlin become about the growing American fascist police state it caused General Nikolai Makarov, Russia’s top military commander, to issue a warning to the West last week that the Motherland was fully prepared for a nuclear World War III and which prompted the Obama regime to state that it would immediately cease observing their arms treaty with Russia;” from Prison Planet, “Citing a report by China’s Central Television… an unnamed government official warned (the US and Nato), ‘Any threat to Pakistan is a threat to China’;” and from various news sites, “Chinese General Threatens ‘Third World War’ To Protect Iran… Major General Zhang Zhaozhong commented that, ‘China will not hesitate to protect Iran even with a third world war.’”
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/5/2011
The only moment my interest in the ongoing drama between Gloria Arroyo and the Yellow government perked up was when the former’s mouthpiece, Elena Bautista-Horn, broached the idea of a “Put the Little Girl to Sleep” plot brewing--hence, the PeNoy government’s obsession to put the “little girl” in a government hospital where it could be carried out.
At first, I reacted to it as I would to any joke; but on second thought I realized that there are many, many parties who would like to permanently bury their fears of whatever beans GMA may someday spill about them. For starters, there’s a host of oligarchs who used her government to obtain their behest loans and sweetheart deals that were all injurious to the people. There are still more military and police generals, who raked in billions under her watch, dreading the prospect of being exposed. Then, there are the geopolitical twists, which the US fears Gloria can fiddle with to save her hide.
That last notion gained provenance when I saw on the History Channel the feature on the “Ampatuan Massacre” and the manner in which the American producers portrayed Arroyo and stressed her closeness to the Ampatuans. To most Filipinos, this is an obvious fact; but to an analyst of US full spectrum propaganda and cultural warfare like me, this is a significant half-truth.
True, Arroyo depended on the Ampatuans for election engineering, but so did PeNoy’s mother, Corazon Aquino, who was the one who raised the Ampatuans from small-time provincial warlords to full-fledged major ARMM (Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao) players as a counterfoil to the Muslim politicians of the Marcos era.
We also know from Yellow sources that PeNoy was, in fact, scheduled to visit the Ampatuans for his 2007 senatorial bid just before the massacre took place, and only then--like every other politician who used to beeline to the clan for their vote additions--did he avoid the Ampatuans like the plague.
The bias of US political strategists for the Aquinos and (currently) against Arroyo was evident in the WikiLeaks-obtained e-mails of the US Embassy in Manila to its home office. There, it was shown that the 2005 Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) decision on the distribution of Hacienda Luisita land to its farmers was followed with concern. The embassy also interpreted that order as Gloria’s way of getting back at Cory, supposedly after the latter joined the so-called Hyatt 10’s Arroyo ouster call on July 11 of that year--a move that had all the markings of a US-sanctioned operation. Back then, Arroyo was already getting much too playful with Chinese interests at a time when the “Hello Garci” exposé became too much of a liability for the US-aligned ruling class here.
Before that, things were pretty honky dory between the two: Cory, after spearheading Edsa II, gave Gloria her all-out support through several military mutinies, even raising her hand after the Oakwood incident. In the 2004 polls, they were together in preventing an FPJ win. Later, Gloria gave the Aquino-Cojuangcos military support which led to the Hacienda Luisita massacre.
Despite former US Ambassador Kristie Kenney’s fondness for Arroyo, the US State Department clearly didn’t fancy her anymore midway through the previous decade. Still, none of that constitutes any real possibility that they have any interest to do her in. It’s the domestic elements that have connived and conspired with Gloria where any danger could come.
Just as unseen forces snuffed the life out of PeNoy’s father, Ninoy Aquino, those out to sow chaos by creating a trigger for a major destabilization move or to cover up for a brewing major scandal, may well decide that putting the little girl to sleep would fit their desired scenario perfectly.
On the other hand, it could simply be a case of the little girl wanting to put herself to sleep, seeing that her “castle in the air” has crumbled despite the meticulously planned Aquinorroyo zarzuela and other defense or exit strategies.
But would Gloria Arroyo do an Angie Reyes (assuming Angie Reyes really did himself in)? As far as lawyer and legal icon Alan Paguia is concerned, that case still cannot be closed until all the legal requirements are met (which haven’t). Besides, the supposedly grieving Reyes family is now enjoying a few hundred millions of public money, which they apparently no longer have to account for. But, as the former Edsa II general purportedly took his life due to “honor,” the danger of an Angie Reyes redux for Gloria is diminished since she has none of it.
The only real danger to Arroyo probably will come from what President Joseph Estrada and his senator-son Jinggoy have warned about: The wily rodents at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center.
On a more serious note, these have come out in various international media since our last column “A creeping World War III:” From GlobalResearch, “So concerned has the Kremlin become about the growing American fascist police state it caused General Nikolai Makarov, Russia’s top military commander, to issue a warning to the West last week that the Motherland was fully prepared for a nuclear World War III and which prompted the Obama regime to state that it would immediately cease observing their arms treaty with Russia;” from Prison Planet, “Citing a report by China’s Central Television… an unnamed government official warned (the US and Nato), ‘Any threat to Pakistan is a threat to China’;” and from various news sites, “Chinese General Threatens ‘Third World War’ To Protect Iran… Major General Zhang Zhaozhong commented that, ‘China will not hesitate to protect Iran even with a third world war.’”
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Compensation?
BACKBENCHER
Rod Kapunan
12/3-4/2011
Now that the Supreme Court has decided last November 23 to distribute the remaining 4,915 hectares of the sprawling Hacienda Luisita —the property which historically has been laced with murders and assassinations—to the farmers, the next question is whether the landlord clan of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III would insist on payment for compensation.
Once this question ripens to actual court litigation it could mean another setback to the farmers who since 1968 have been waiting for their share of the land they tilled. For 43 long years or ten years after the purchase by Don Jose Cojuangco on March 31, 1958 from Tabacalera, the distribution of the original 6,400-hectare hacienda was made part of the condition to secure loan from the Government Service Insurance System and from the then Central Bank of the Philippines.
Specifically, the Monetary Board of the CB, by virtue of Resolution No. 1240, granted to Jose Cojuangco the loan of $2,128,480 for the purchase of the sugar mill. Finding interest in buying the plantation, he secured a second loan of P5.9 million from the GSIS, which was approved by the board of trustees in Resolution No. 3202. Part of the deal was to distribute the land after ten years pursuant to the land reform program of the government.
On its face, the decision is a judicial landmark to the estimated 6,296 farmer-beneficiaries considering that the person who will be affected is no less than the President. They have every reason to rejoice for that would mean their emancipation from the bondage of the soil. But taking a second look at the decision, one could not help suspect that the highly polarized magistrates, with one abstention, coalesced in voting to have the hacienda subdivided.
Maybe the Arroyo-appointed loyalists were out to embarrass what they see as a good-for-nothing administration. For the Aquino-appointed justices, their concurrence has been interpreted as a consciously sorted-out strategy; that possibly, Malacañang had given them the “go” signal. One cannot discount that for in no time the Secretary of Agrarian Reforms, Gil de los Reyes, came out with a statement saying he would immediately seek the enforcement of the decision once it becomes final, while PNoy expressed no objection provided they are paid their just compensation.
To give in to this possible clever scheme of being paid based on the present fair value of the property would amount to another round of swindling. Any right-minded appraiser would say that if ever the owners of the hacienda are to be paid the value for their property, appraisal should be based in the 1968 valuation. The land cannot be assessed beyond that period because the owners stand in default on their loan agreement. So, if they got it say for a total of P10 million, considering that the exchange rate at that time of the peso was 2:1 to the US dollar, the increase in the value of the property could not exceed P200 million by 1968.
More so that a decision has been rendered on December 2, 1985 by then Judge Bernardo Pardo of the Manila Regional Trial Court, Branch XLII, who that early decided in favor of subdividing the hacienda to the farmers. It would not only be unconscionable, but another round of injustice to the farmer-beneficiaries, who by that arrangement, would have to pay the amortization to the government financial institution that will advance the payment of compensation to the Cojuangcos.
Besides, the Cojuangcos have not even accounted for a centavo of the P1.3 billion they earned for the disposition of a portion of the hacienda into industrial estates and the exorbitant payment made by the government for the construction of a right-of-way that cut deep into their manor, nor has presented a record indicating full payment of taxes for the property.
Nonetheless, if it could no longer be distributed to the beneficiaries, at least it should be reverted to those who will be deprived of the land or distributed as dividend to the holders of those worthless SDO who were made to rely on them as supplement to their meager income. In the final analysis, it should be the farmers who should be compensated because of the number of years they were deprived of income from the land which could have been used for their amortization.
For the farmer-beneficiaries, it is not the value of the land that matters, but on its productivity much that they cannot sell that. This notwithstanding that a great portion of the land has become a veritable talahiban after the owners almost abandoned planting sugar. After the Laurel-Langley Agreement expired on July 3, 1974, the so-called sugar barons then lost their preferential sugar quota allocation, which was their main source of income.
In addition, the Cojuangcos cannot for long make Marcos their “whipping boy” for their economic debacle, but on their selfish tenacity to hold on to the property. Presidential Decree Nos. 27 issued on October 12, 1972 and 1066 issued on December 31, 1976 clearly exempted from land reform sugar lands, and Marcos did that to precisely protect the sugar industry.
f there is somebody the Cojuangcos could blame, they should blame Mrs. Aquino herself. In her eagerness to make pasikat that her version of land reform would be much better than that of the “dictator” she denounced, the 1987 Constitution drafted by her appointed minions declared in no uncertain terms that all agricultural lands shall be subject to land reform. That was bolstered by the approval of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. When she realized her blunder, she backpedaled by ordering the circumvention of her own laws. Instead of a piece of land, the farmers were given a piece of paper cleverly dubbed as “stock distribution option” (SDO).
Death finally came to their family’s business after her anointed successor, Fidel Ramos, in his usual grand hallucination opened wide the country’s economic door to globalization. Our sugar industry was mercilessly battered by competition because of our inherently high cost of production. Despite that, the Cojuangcos continued to cling on to their property, while converting the choice cuts into industrial estates, thereby gaining more from the business of real estate than in producing sugar.
As usual, the farmers were made to wait, unaware their landlords were already engaged in the speculative selling of lands, and the final trophy was the decision of the Supreme Court for possibly their prayer for just compensation might end up in them becoming the richest family in the country. At the same time, PNoy would appear pro-poor not knowing that the amortization would be equivalent to the proverbial saying of “giving the farmers the rope for them to hang themselves”.
(rodkap@yahoo.com)
Rod Kapunan
12/3-4/2011
Now that the Supreme Court has decided last November 23 to distribute the remaining 4,915 hectares of the sprawling Hacienda Luisita —the property which historically has been laced with murders and assassinations—to the farmers, the next question is whether the landlord clan of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III would insist on payment for compensation.
Once this question ripens to actual court litigation it could mean another setback to the farmers who since 1968 have been waiting for their share of the land they tilled. For 43 long years or ten years after the purchase by Don Jose Cojuangco on March 31, 1958 from Tabacalera, the distribution of the original 6,400-hectare hacienda was made part of the condition to secure loan from the Government Service Insurance System and from the then Central Bank of the Philippines.
Specifically, the Monetary Board of the CB, by virtue of Resolution No. 1240, granted to Jose Cojuangco the loan of $2,128,480 for the purchase of the sugar mill. Finding interest in buying the plantation, he secured a second loan of P5.9 million from the GSIS, which was approved by the board of trustees in Resolution No. 3202. Part of the deal was to distribute the land after ten years pursuant to the land reform program of the government.
On its face, the decision is a judicial landmark to the estimated 6,296 farmer-beneficiaries considering that the person who will be affected is no less than the President. They have every reason to rejoice for that would mean their emancipation from the bondage of the soil. But taking a second look at the decision, one could not help suspect that the highly polarized magistrates, with one abstention, coalesced in voting to have the hacienda subdivided.
Maybe the Arroyo-appointed loyalists were out to embarrass what they see as a good-for-nothing administration. For the Aquino-appointed justices, their concurrence has been interpreted as a consciously sorted-out strategy; that possibly, Malacañang had given them the “go” signal. One cannot discount that for in no time the Secretary of Agrarian Reforms, Gil de los Reyes, came out with a statement saying he would immediately seek the enforcement of the decision once it becomes final, while PNoy expressed no objection provided they are paid their just compensation.
To give in to this possible clever scheme of being paid based on the present fair value of the property would amount to another round of swindling. Any right-minded appraiser would say that if ever the owners of the hacienda are to be paid the value for their property, appraisal should be based in the 1968 valuation. The land cannot be assessed beyond that period because the owners stand in default on their loan agreement. So, if they got it say for a total of P10 million, considering that the exchange rate at that time of the peso was 2:1 to the US dollar, the increase in the value of the property could not exceed P200 million by 1968.
More so that a decision has been rendered on December 2, 1985 by then Judge Bernardo Pardo of the Manila Regional Trial Court, Branch XLII, who that early decided in favor of subdividing the hacienda to the farmers. It would not only be unconscionable, but another round of injustice to the farmer-beneficiaries, who by that arrangement, would have to pay the amortization to the government financial institution that will advance the payment of compensation to the Cojuangcos.
Besides, the Cojuangcos have not even accounted for a centavo of the P1.3 billion they earned for the disposition of a portion of the hacienda into industrial estates and the exorbitant payment made by the government for the construction of a right-of-way that cut deep into their manor, nor has presented a record indicating full payment of taxes for the property.
Nonetheless, if it could no longer be distributed to the beneficiaries, at least it should be reverted to those who will be deprived of the land or distributed as dividend to the holders of those worthless SDO who were made to rely on them as supplement to their meager income. In the final analysis, it should be the farmers who should be compensated because of the number of years they were deprived of income from the land which could have been used for their amortization.
For the farmer-beneficiaries, it is not the value of the land that matters, but on its productivity much that they cannot sell that. This notwithstanding that a great portion of the land has become a veritable talahiban after the owners almost abandoned planting sugar. After the Laurel-Langley Agreement expired on July 3, 1974, the so-called sugar barons then lost their preferential sugar quota allocation, which was their main source of income.
In addition, the Cojuangcos cannot for long make Marcos their “whipping boy” for their economic debacle, but on their selfish tenacity to hold on to the property. Presidential Decree Nos. 27 issued on October 12, 1972 and 1066 issued on December 31, 1976 clearly exempted from land reform sugar lands, and Marcos did that to precisely protect the sugar industry.
f there is somebody the Cojuangcos could blame, they should blame Mrs. Aquino herself. In her eagerness to make pasikat that her version of land reform would be much better than that of the “dictator” she denounced, the 1987 Constitution drafted by her appointed minions declared in no uncertain terms that all agricultural lands shall be subject to land reform. That was bolstered by the approval of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. When she realized her blunder, she backpedaled by ordering the circumvention of her own laws. Instead of a piece of land, the farmers were given a piece of paper cleverly dubbed as “stock distribution option” (SDO).
Death finally came to their family’s business after her anointed successor, Fidel Ramos, in his usual grand hallucination opened wide the country’s economic door to globalization. Our sugar industry was mercilessly battered by competition because of our inherently high cost of production. Despite that, the Cojuangcos continued to cling on to their property, while converting the choice cuts into industrial estates, thereby gaining more from the business of real estate than in producing sugar.
As usual, the farmers were made to wait, unaware their landlords were already engaged in the speculative selling of lands, and the final trophy was the decision of the Supreme Court for possibly their prayer for just compensation might end up in them becoming the richest family in the country. At the same time, PNoy would appear pro-poor not knowing that the amortization would be equivalent to the proverbial saying of “giving the farmers the rope for them to hang themselves”.
(rodkap@yahoo.com)
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