SDO, root of all problems EDITORIAL 08/20/2010

SDO, root of all problems

EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 08/20/2010 The exchange of arguments at the Supreme Court (SC) over the stock distribution option (SDO), the crux of the current conflict at the Hacienda Luisita of the Cojuangco-Aquino family of President Noynoy, points to the fact that political influence kept the farmers out of their rightful claim on the sugar estate, which goes way beyond the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of Cory Aquino, Noynoy’s mother, to the time when his father Sen. Ninoy Aquino brokered the sale of the hacienda with President Magsaysay and Ninoy’s Cojuangco in-laws. Several administrations had tried to implement in vain the real intent of the sale of the land to the Cojuangcos, which was for the farmers to later own. It was always the intervention of an administration friendly to the Cojuangco-Aquinos that allowed the family to retain the estate. High court justices yesterday entertained the argument that since Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), the company formed by the Cojuangco-Aquinos to enforce the SDO scheme, had submitted the compromise agreement to the tribunal, the high court acquires jurisdiction on reviewing the SDO provision under the CARP that those who crafted the 1987 Constitution themselves said was a loophole in the intent of the law for land distribution..... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100820com1.html

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