Philippine President to Parcel Out Land to Farmers

Been ordered to by the court:

"Aquino family estate ordered broken up" New York Times, April 25, 2012

MANILA - The Philippine Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the family estate of President Benigno S. Aquino III to be broken up, ending decades of sometimes bloody conflict over the second-largest family-owned plot of land in the country.

The court unanimously affirmed a decision to distribute half of the almost 25,000-acre Hacienda Luisita estate to about 6,300 farmers and their families who have worked the land for decades.

The redistribution is part of an agrarian program that aims to reduce rural poverty by breaking up large holdings and distributing them to individual farmers.

Historically, agricultural land in the Philippines has been concentrated in the hands of wealthy landowners who hire tenant farmers for low wages. This created a wealth disparity that has contributed to unrest.

Tuesday’s ruling has political overtones because the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Renato C. Corona, is under impeachment by allies of Aquino. Corona has said that Aquino supported his impeachment because of court rulings favoring farmers in the Hacienda Luisita case.

Aquino, who relinquished his interest in the property before taking office in 2010, has denied links between the impeachment and the Hacienda Luisita rulings. Aquino declined to comment on Tuesday’s ruling, saying through a spokeswoman that it was an issue being handled by the government’s land reform office.

Rafael Mariano, a left-leaning congressman who has championed the cause of the farmers, said the government should move quickly to distribute the land. “This is a hard-fought, well-deserved victory for thousands of farmers,’’ he said.

Hacienda Luisita, about 80 miles north of Manila, has been the site of recurring conflict.

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