In more ways than one, the on-going agrarian dispute at the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac is bigger than what is in the papers.

What is not immediately obvious is the sheer size of the landholding. Just how big is an area of 6,474 hectares—the size of Hacienda Luisita? Engineer Ramon Ramirez compared the combined size of the cities of Makati and Manila to the landholding of the Cojuangco-Aquino families.
Manila covers a land area of 3,955 hectares while Makati spreads over 2,738 hectares. Manila and Makati combined is 6,593 hectares which is just slightly bigger than the Luisita. The hacienda actually covers 11 barangays within its area. It is not surprising to imagine why the Cojuanco-Aquino clan finds it difficult to give up its control over this landholding.

The Hacienda was acquired in 1957 by the Cojuangco family through a USD 2.13 million loan guaranteed by the Central Bank. To put up the money for the purchase, Jose Cojuangco Sr., the father of President Cory Aquino, took out a P 5.9-million loan from the GSIS. This loan had several conditions, one of which was that “the lots comprising the Hacienda Luisita shall be subdivided by the applicant-corporation among the tenants who shall pay the cost thereof under reasonable terms and conditions.” Ninoy Aquino, the current President’s late father, was appointed its first administrator.

As stipulated in the loan agreement with the GSIS, the distribution of land should have been done immediately after the 10-year repayment of the loan. This distribution never happened. This issue has since then reached the courts, which in 1985 ordered TADECO (later the Hacienda Luisita Inc. or HLI) to turn over the control of the hacienda for distribution.

The issue of land distribution is at the heart of the Hacienda’s history. The current episode in this long running series is the so-called compromise agreement foisted upon the farmworkers, compelling them to decide between retaining their ‘shares of stock‘ (through the stock distribution option or SDO), or claiming their small parcel of land despite a pending case in the Supreme Court.

The harsh mathematics of the SDO was made real with the distribution to the farmers of the first instalment of P20 million (out of a promised P150 million) last August 12. According to reports, some got as low as P100 while others received around P4,000. Despite a NEDA study on the productivity of a small parcel of land and the successful practice of collective farming by farmers or “bungkalan” on small lots in the Hacienda, the HLI with its offers of cash and jobs made it seem beneficial to sign up for the SDO rather than to take the small parcel of land. Instead of fully receiving their full share of the whole of the Hacienda, the “compromise” agreement returned the farmworkers to the situation before 2004.

They would be back to receiving as low as P9.50 per day of labor after deductions for only several days per week termed as “man-days.” In the SDO, these “man-days” were also the basis of the amount of stocks programmed to be distributed over 30 years. The problem is that the number of hours a worker works in a year at the Hacienda is entirely under the discretion and control of management.

In 2004, the same issue of land distribution accompanied by labor unrest in the Central Azucarera de Tarlac was the reason for the joint massive strike by the Hacienda farm workers and the sugar mill workers. The strike was precipitated by the illegal dismissal of 327 farm workers and a deadlock in the CBA between management and sugar mill workers union. The violent dispersal of the strikers by soldiers, police and hacienda security guards caused the death of seven strikers and injuries to many others. The months following the November 16 massacre saw a spate of extra-judicial killings of community leaders, a city councilor and even a priest, who were all active supporters of the farmers cause.

There are more things we can count. The presence of the military in eight barangays of the Hacienda.
The number of years the issue has been brewing. The share of farm-workers in the land. The land conversion from agricultural to industrial and other uses. The amount of money and political dealings involved in the Subic-Clark Expressway, which passes through (and has a exit within) Hacienda Luisita.

What is clear is that the Hacienda Luisita is an example of the long running agrarian problem in the country. The landlords are still there: Attempting to preserve their control over vast lands using any and every schemes to keep this set-up. The farmers are still struggling: not only to feed their families, but also to seek social justice and land to till.