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Philippines - Hacienda Luisita - Call for implementation of Agrarian Reform

Hon. Renato Corona
Chief Justice
Supreme Court
Manila
C/O Clerk of Court (02) 525 3208/524 9742

                                                                                             August 3, 2011
Re: Supreme Court Decision G.R. No. 171101 on Hacienda Luisita

Dear Chief Justice Corona,

We would like to first of all thank you for the En Banc Notice we received from the Supreme Court of the Philippines as a response to the fax we sent on October 6, 2010 in relation to the case of Hacienda Luisita. We appreciate your efforts in keeping us informed of the development in the case.

Recently, however, we came to know about the Supreme Court decision G.R. No. 171101 which was rendered on July 5th, 2011, calling for a referendum to have 6296 concerned farm-worker beneficiaries of the Hacienda Luisita decide whether to remain with the corporation and retain their shares or be given land. The Supreme Court, furthermore, ordered the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to immediately schedule meetings with the concerned farm workers to "explain to them the effects, consequences, and legal or practical implications of their choice".

As an international human rights organization working for the right to adequate food, FIAN strongly believes that this decision fails to address the core problem faced by the concerned farm workers and their families.  As already iterated in our fax letter to the Honorable Chief Justice dated October 6, 2010, the Stock Distribution Option (SDO) in place since 1989 has not contributed to uplifting of living conditions of the concerned farm workers, but worse still, deepened poverty through diminished work days and very low take home pay (as low as P. 9.50 pesos per week), as well as lack of economic security as farmer workers on the Hacienda. The land owner has initiated land conversion and sold portions of the Hacienda, thereby diminishing the area devoted to agriculture.

The case of Hacienda Luisita has clearly proved that SDO will not and cannot replace redistribution of land to the farm workers, a fact which was acknowledged by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council when it revoked the SDO in 2005 based on the findings and recommendations of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). In addition, notwithstanding our firm belief that farm workers should be decision-making agents to determine their own future, according to farmers' support groups, the farmers signed the compromise under duress in 1989, and some farmers were not cognizant of the compromise agreement initiated by the landowners in August 2010. Farmers and land owner are incomparably unequal in power, wealth, access to information, as well as access to and clout over state decision-making, that guaranteeing a referendum respecting human rights principles such as participation, transparency, and rule of law is very unlikely and almost insurmountable.

As a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the Government of the Philippines has the obligation under Article 11 of the said Covenant to respect, protect and fulfill the right to adequate food of the Hacienda farmers. For the above reasons cited, the recent decision of the Supreme Court allowing a vote that would in effect guarantee the continuity of the SDO in the Hacienda Luisita is a breach of respect-bound obligation of the Government of the Philippines. Furthermore, the Government of the Philippines has likewise breached its obligation to protect by not regulating the activities of the land owners (sustained retrenchment of farm workers and lack of labor security), as these activities had detrimental impact on farm workers' right to adequate food. Finally, the Government of the Philippines has failed to fulfill the right to adequate food of the Hacienda Luisita farmers, by not duly implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program - a program which should distribute land to landless farmers to guarantee their right to adequate food.

Finally, I would like to remind you, Honorable Chief Justice, that the 1987 Philippine Constitution mandates the Government to "undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right of the farmers and regular farm workers who are landless to own directly or collectively the lands they till, or in the case of other farm workers, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof" (Sec. 4, Art. XVIII). Not only is the Section 31 of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL, or RA 6657) which allows corporations to give farmer beneficiaries right to own stocks instead of land is contrary to the said provision of the 1987 Constitution, it is also a breach of the right to adequate food as enshrined in the International Covenant of the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, to which the Philippines is a signatory.  I would like to request your Honorable Chief Justice to lead the Supreme Court in revoking the SDO in the Hacienda Luisita as per the 1987 Philippines Constitution as well as international law referred to above.

Please keep me updated on the measures you will intend to take in this regard.

Sincerely,

Flavio Valente
FIAN International
Secretary General

C.c. Benigno Simeon C. Aquino, President of the Republic of the Philippines, Justice Antonio T. Carpio, Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro, Justice Arturo D. Brion, Justice Diosdado M. Peralta, Justice Lucas P. Bersamin, Justice Mariano C. Del Castillo, Justice Roberto A. Abad, Justice Martin S. Villarama, Jr., Justice Jose P. Perez, Justice Jose C. Mendoza, Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno, Justice Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr., Loretta Ann P. Rosales, Chairperson/Commission on Human Rights, Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Food.