Luisita massacre case closed—Palace By Aytch S. de la Cruz 07/07/2010

Ombudsman already cleared Noynoy—spokesman Luisita massacre case closed—Palace By Aytch S. de la Cruz 07/07/2010 For a presidency that calls for closure — even through a special Truth Commission — this is easily claimed to have closure when it comes down to a case involving President Aquino and his Cojuangco relatives pertaining to Hacienda Luisita. To Aquino and his Palace, the hacienda case is a closed case that should not be questioned or investigated further. Malacañang yesterday said the long-standing issue on the plight of the victims in the 2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre should be regarded as a “closed case” following the resolution supposedly executed by the Office of the Ombudsman which absolved then Tarlac congressman now President Aquino of any accountability in the massacre of the farmers. This acquittal of Aquino must have been recent, since this issue was a campaign issue against him yet his camp never stated that then Senator Aquino had already been cleared by the Ombudsman. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda made this statement in response to a reporter’s question on how Aquino plans to address the continuing cry for justice of the relatives of the farmers who were killed in the outskirts of the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac while fighting for their right to just compensation from the Cojuangco-Aquino clan. “That (Hacienda Luisita massacre issue) has been investigated. There was already an Ombudsman report way, way back and it has already cleared then Congressman Benigno Aquino III. So it’s an old issue,” Lacierda said. “That’s been a closed issue…that has been a campaign issue before and we have already answered that—that the charges against then Congressman Benigno Aquino were already dismissed,” he reiterated in an apparent bid to quickly end a discussion on the matter. Lacierda also mentioned that the protracted land row dispute in the HLI between the farmers and the Cojuangco-Aquino clan will be addressed by newly-appointed Agrarian Reform Secretary Gil de los Reyes but he said the case will be treated just “like any other ordinary case.”... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100707hed1.html

HEADLINES Luisita massacre case closed—Palace Noynoy eyes line budgeting, slashed pork Miriam claims Villar already has Senate presidency in the bag Comelec into cover-up on folder scam—ex-employee Widened ambit seen to weaken truth body Malacañang sees nothing wrong in extension