Duterte: Hacienda Luisita ‘fly in the ointment’ of Cory Aquino’s land reform program

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday railed anew against the exemption of the Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac from the land reform program under former President Corazon Aquino whose family owned the sprawling estate.

Duterte used an idiomatic expression to emphasize what he believed was a drawback for Aquino’s agrarian reform legacy.

“The law says that there will be land reform, although Cory inexempt niya ‘yung lupa niya. ‘Yun, that was the fly in the ointment. ‘Yun ang nagka-leche doon,” the President said in a speech before former rebels in Jamidan, Capiz.

“Lahat kinuha nila. Pero ang batas nagsasabi kasi isauli mo sa tao.”

Hacienda Luisita used to occupy 6,435 hectares but over the years, portions were sold to industrial companies.

A stock distribution plan was put in place in 1989 when Hacienda Luisita Inc. forged an agreement with thousands of farmers for shares in the corporation instead of land.

The land distribution issue was elevated to the Supreme Court, which decided with finality in 2012 to give the more than 4,300 hectares of land to farmer-beneficiaries.

On August 27, Duterte completed the distribution of remaining 112 hectares of Hacienda Luisita to the beneficiaries.

Duterte earlier said that he had nothing against the Aquino and her family despite his criticism of the previous implementation of the agrarian reform program. —LDF, GMA News