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Hacienda issues Noynoy’s Pandora’s Box By Charlie V. Manalo and Angie M. Rosales
11/13/2009
The Cojuangco-Aquino families never had it so good under President Arroyo’s administration, until their relationship with the Malacañang tenant soured.
But while the relationship was going great guns, the Hacienda Luisita Cojuangcos easily obtained for themselves the only fully government-funded private interchange, a congressman said yesterday.
Cavite Rep. Crispin Remulla noted that while all private entities have to pay expressway management a huge amount of money for the right to have an interchange constructed leading to their properties, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) management constructed a P170-million private road interchange leading to the Cojuangco-Aquino-owned Hacienda Luisita on top of an P80 million remuneration for the right of way (RoW) for 83 hectares of the property.
“At Slex (South Luzon Expressway), Asia Brewery and Greenfield had to pay PNCC (Philippine National Construction Corp.) P241 million each for the right to have an interchange. The same goes for Southwoods and Mamplasan. They had to build the interchanges themselves at their own cost. They had to donate eight hectares which is standard area for an interchange,” Remulla said.
The Cavite solon added that with the Cojuangco-Aquinos benefiting a total of P250 million from the aggregate cost of the interchange and the RoW, the family of Sen. Bneigno “Noynoy” Aquino now belongs to a rare breed similar to the gods of Olympus.
“If everyone else has to pay for his own interchange and donate the parcel of land for such purpose, and on the other hand, the Cojuangco-Aquinos are gifted with their own interchange plus a bonus of P80 million for the right of way on their property, then the claim of Senator Noynoy’s camp that the senator’s bid for president is a fight between good and evil and that the senator is on the side of good, that is an understatement,” Remulla said.
“Senator Noynoy and the Cojuangco-Aquino clan would be gods perched on top of Mt. Olympus,” Remulla said sarcastically, as they enjoyed very special privileges.
A reliable source said that a very influential Cojuangco family member personally asked Arroyo for these benefits, all on taxpayers’ money.
Political allies of Aquino yesterday quickly dismissed as mere black propaganda the claimed efforts of some critics of the presidentiable Aquino in linking his family over the purported anomalies surrounding the construction of the P33 billion SCTEX.
Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, president of the Liberal Party (LP) and Aquino’s running mate, came to Aquino’s defense, as he dismissed the allegations as baseless.
Roxas dared those raising the issue to pursue the probe to prove their allegations against Aquino.
Roxas denied that the Aquino family benefited from the SCTEX, having been allegedly gifted with a P170-million private road interchange built exclusively for Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), on top of the purported P80 million paid to the company as renumeration for the 83 hectares of land used for the road project.
“This is just a black propaganda. First off, this SCTEX project was a result of a negotiation by (former) President (Joseph) Estrada with the Japanese government, through the Obuchi fund,” the senator said, referring to the Special Yen Loan Package, more known as Obuchi fund.
“It was funded and supervised by the Japanese government. It was they who designed the loan package and determined the designated beneficiaries. Aquino has nothing to do with the decision-making and implementation of this package,” Roxas, who was then trade and industry secretary during the Estrada and the Arroyo administration, explained.
The project was carried on by Arroyo when she assumed the presidency and pursued its completion after winning the 2004 elections, he added.
“From the very beginning, Aquino has been a staunch critic of Malacañang. He neither has the means or influence in manipulating the allocations of the loan agreement, where the road should traverse or in choosing the contractors to undertake this project,” he further said.
Yet it is on record that the Aquinos were allies of President Arroyo from 2000 to 2005, and during that period, they were not in opposition to the Arroyos.
Rpoxas claimed it was obvious that some quarters are engaged in mud-slinging, even to the extent of making up baseless charges against Aquino.
Roxas said this issue cannot be likened to the C-5 road extension project which is marred by alleged double funding by Sen. Manuel Villar Jr.
Roxas did not, however, touch on the changes made in the SCTEX, and the right of way payment, as well as the government-funded private interchange worth some P173 million, which benefits the Hacienda Luisita owners.
On the matter of the overpricing, Roxas dared critics to undertake an investigation to determine if Aquino had any participation in jacking up the project cost.
Whether this was an Obuchi project, it was, however, still a loan which the Filipino people will have to pay for.
Roxas claimed that Noynoy has nothing to do with overpricing or the project itself. But Roxas also did not mention that this SCTEX project, underwent a lot of changes, ending up with a private interchange in a private property, Hacienda Luisita.
“This is an attempt by our opponents to bring us down to their level,” Aquino said in an interview with reporters.
The LP standard bearer twitted those accusing him of being supposedly in the same boat as Villar, citing his claimed lack of participation in the upper chamber’s probe on the C-5 controversy of the latter.
“Senate records will attest that I was at several of the hearings and I even had my votes recorded by the secretariat. In fact when I was asked recently if I will sign the committee report (on the C-5 road probe) and I made an appeal to my opponent (Villar) to share his side because he never participated (in our proceedings, otherwise there is only one side of the story. We want him to exercise his rights and have his side aired,” said Aquino.
The escalation of the project cost, Aquino said, could be only attributed to the dampening of the economic situation then of the country.
“In the process the cost escalated with the economy on the downturn in China and India,” he claimed.
Aquino, in challenging his accusers, said they have the burden in proving their charges insofar as supposed participation in the road project.
The only participation he could recall was that of attending a briefing on the status of the project while he was still a congressman.
“I participated in that aspect. But did I lobby to the Japanese government? No. Did I lobby to (former) President Estrada for it? No. He was the one who told me that he was pushing for this road,” he said. Aquino made no mention of the private interchange, however. (MY COMMENT: Someone in another forum said, "yan kasi ang ayaw sagutin ni Noynoy, which is the issue.")
“Although I once worked with LHI, I’m not the person who runs Luisita. I think BCDA (Bases Conversion Development Authority) has supervision over this project,” he added.
The Hacienda Luisita portion of the SCTEX was initiated in 2004 reportedly by Aquino when he was still a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. At that time, the Cojuancgo-Aquinos were still allies of the Arroyo administration having campaigned vigorously for Arroyo for the 2004 elections.
Sources say it was a very influential member of the Cojuangco- Aquino clan who called President Arroyo to personally lobby for the Hacienda Luisita portion of the SCTEX project.
Bataan Rep. Herminia Roman also scored the SCTEX management and the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) for constructing the Hacienda Luisita interchange while deliberately ignoring the towns of Bataan.
“It’s rather strange that a private road interchange was constructed leading to a private property like the Hacienda Luisita at the expense of the people and there was no interchange constructed leading to towns in Bataan,” said Roman.
Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz said the issue of Hacienda Luisita could very well serve as Senator Aquino’s Pandora Box.
“The Hacienda Luisita is Senator Noynoy ‘Pandora’s Box,’ said Dela Cruz. “He has continuously avoided discussing the issue because he knows it will open up a great number of controversies including the SCTEX.” “The SCTEX scandal is just one of the so many issues that cropped up out decades-long struggle of the Hacienda Luisita farm workers who have yet to benefit from several court rulings dating back to the time of the late President (Ferdinand) Marcos ordering the distribution of the more than 6,000 hectares of sugar land to its beneficiaries,” said Dela Cruz.
The party-list lawmaker also lamented that instead of addressing the issue, the Cojuangco families have resorted to duping the farm workers by subjecting them to Stock Distribution Option and meeting their protest with violence resulting to the death of seven workers in Nov. 16, 2004 and the shooting of three other workers allegedly by Senator Aquino’s security aide in January 2005.
Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo also lashed at Aquino for trivializing the issue of the Hacienda Luisita.
“The issue of Hacienda Luisita is a legitimate political issue and not a mere black propaganda as Senator Noynoy claims it to be,” said Ocampo.
Instead of answering the issues raised against him, Senator Aquino has insisted that they are all part of black propaganda.
“If Senator Noynoy, then Deputy Speaker of the House could initiate altering a multi-billion project for the benefit of his family, imagine what more damage could he do to the country if he is elected as president,” said Remulla.
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Gut issues EDITORIAL 11/13/2009
Presidential wannabe Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino must face squarely the valid issues involving his family’s Hacienda Luisita estate, including the recently bared benefits it derived from an overpriced P33-billion Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), including as well the P80 million direct cash right of way (RoW) payment from the government and a P170 million private interchange which appeared to have been built for the Cojuangco property.
With the gross plunder that the nation has been through under the almost nine years of misgovernment of Gloria, Filipinos are expecting the next president to clean up her mess, which can only be achieved by one most perceived to have the ability to resist the temptations that go with the position.
Resisting temptations is an important factor in a presidential equation, considering that Aquino and his elite Yellow supporters continue to claim that their candidate is honest and has integrity, which they say are all that matters in a presidential candidate.
No stain of corruption? But Noynoy hasn’t been in the top post, for him to be stained with graft of the Gloria magnitude, although if, as stated in reports, he personally lobbied for that overpriced SCTEX and the private interchange as well as the overpriced RoW, plus giving the shareholder workers a mere pittance as their share of the RoW payment, what would the Yellows call this? Honesty? Integrity? Delicadeza-filled? No personal or selfish interest involved? Clean transactions? Transparency? Full disclosure?
In a similar way that another presidential hopeful, Manuel Villar is facing his colleagues in the Senate to clear up the P200-million double-insertion mess in the C-5 road project, Noynoy should be able to face up to demands for public scrutiny, particularly since he is being projected to be the civil socialites’ clean government bet.
Based on an ongoing probe of the SCTEX project, it was found that the government paid the Cojuangcos P80 million to have the interchange, that could have been the family’s own, since it linked Hacienda Luisita to the expressway, built over their property.
The question on propriety does not stop there, as a potential leader of the land Noynoy should have been expected to have looked into the whole project that seems all too ready to splurge to have it completed.
Based on the House probe, the project was overpriced by P12 billion as a result of supposed alterations or more likely accommodations, such as the Hacienda Luisita private interchange.
Legislators are also looking into the possibility that both the interchange and the RoW payments to Noynoy’s family were both obscenely overpriced.
Cavite Rep. Crispin Remulla said the Cojuangcos were paid nearly P100 per square meter when the prevailing market price for land in the area cannot be over P10 per square meter, or a 900 percent overprice.
An opprobrious part of the story is that the Cojuangcos may not have even shared the bounty with their farm hands who supposedly owned 32.5 percent of the Hacienda which was turned into a corporate land to evade appropriation under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law — and after Cory Aquino, then the sole law and government, exempted her Hacienda from the CARL.
The abuse of tillers in the property is well documented despite Noynoy’s allegations that the accusations are all black propaganda and politics, including the so-called Hacienda Luisita Massacre that happened five years ago.
Noynoy is being packaged as a Cory Cojuangco and Ninoy Aquino all rolled into one and is the savior in waiting for the country despite his having no defining accomplishment during his years as a congressman and as a senator.
How he confronts the issues on Hacienda Luisita will give the nation a good measure of Noynoy’s capability to lead and unite.
Brushing the issues off as part of political mudslinging going into the elections will not wash.
The nation had had enough of an opaque presidency in which allegations of misrule and abuse are dismissed with a wave of a hand as part of destructive politicking.
Noynoy is following a similar path on the Hacienda Luisita issue starting with the abuse of farmers working for the Cojuangcos for generations.
To say that his actions on the Hacienda mirror a Noynoy presidency is belaboring the point.
I like this guy's reaction to the above:
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Kanya-kanyang mga spinners lang ang mga yan. Dapat, si Abnoynoy mismo ang sumagot sa mga paratang na ito. Si Mar kasi ang dumidepensa sa kanya e hindi naman si Mar ang inaakusahan. Baka si Mar nga dapat ang tumakbong pangulo...mukhang mas may leadership si Mar kaysa kay Abnoynoy e. Kung di lang namatay si Cory, malamang si Mar pa ang napili ng LP. FACT!
Anyway, back to the thread topic...both CARP and SCLEX are like diseases to HL (Hacienda L.), one is cancer, the other is heart disease...different causes and effects.
Baka malusutan ni Noynoy ang isa, but I doubt if he himself, can dodge both CARP and SCLEX issues regarding HL. I want to see and hear him prove his accusers wrong. Siya mismo! Si Senator Benigno Aquino III! Not Mar Roxas or their paid hacks in the media. Pag nagawa niya ito, then maybe he will have a sway supporter in me. Maybe lang ha?
Whatever the outcome of these queries, hopefully in the end, the truth will emerge for the sake of the future of our country.
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Hacienda clan’s quarry deal with Japanese firm illegal By Charlie V. Manalo 12/16/2009
A member of the House of Representatives yes-terday said the Hacienda Luisita management might have committed a serious violation of law when it entered into a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the Japanese contractor of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) by allowing the foreign contractor to quarry 50,000 cubic meters of sand from the hacienda in exchange for the construction of an access road linking the vast sugar land to the expressway.
In an interview, Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla said the quarry contract Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) entered into with Japanese firm Hasama-Taisei Nippon Steel Joint Venture (HTNSJV) appeared to be illegal as Philippine laws do not allow any foreign firms to engage in mining activities.
“Quarrying is mining. Thus, HLI should not have entered into an agreement with HTNSJV to operate quarrying business within the Hacienda Luisita,” said Remulla. “The Constitution and the Philippine Mining Law clearly state that mining activities can only be undertaken by Filipino-owned corporations or corporations owned at least 60 percent by Filipinos.”
“Apart from the fact that a foreign-owned firm is not allowed to engage in mining activities, the MoA signed between HLI and HTNSJV on Nov. 17, 2005, states that the quarrying operation was to commence immediately the next day on Nov. 18, 2005 and was to terminate on Nov. 13, 2006, a year after,” the solon added.
“But then, the Special Permit to Extract was only granted by Tarlac Provincial Governor Jose Yap on Feb. 13, 2006 which was good for three months and only up to May 12, 2006.
“So, that means, they were already quarrying sand from the sugar land even before they have acquired the necessary permit,” he pointed out.
The Cavite lawmaker stressed that to operate a quarry, HLI and HTNSJV should have applied for a supply contract for aggregates, plus a permit to transport, instead of a permit to extract.
Under the MoA, HLI, which is owned by the family of Liberal Party (LP) presidential bet, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, granted access to five hectares of the vast sugar land to HTNSJV from which the Japanese could extract 50,000 cubic meters of sand which it would use as embankment material for SCTEX.
In exchange, HTNSJV will have to construct at its own expense, Parkway, which is about six kilometres of road linking the Luisita Industrial Park to the San Miguel interchange of SCTEX.
HTNSJV was also required to protect the excavated edge of the quarry site upon completion with clay materials to prevent erosion as HLI intends to convert the area into a reservoir.
It was also agreed in the MoA that HLI should acquire the necessary documents for the operation from national government agencies such as the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment of Natural Resources (DENR).
“What the Aquino-Cojuangco owned corporation did was to run around the law by acquiring this themselves under the name of a certain Rolando Tongco to make it appear that a Filipino company was to operate the quarrying when in fact, it was the HTNSJV which operated the quarrying,” said Remulla.
“And what about the cost of the Parkway road? Was its cost part of the price we paid HTNSJV for the construction of SCTEX?” He added. Remulla added that HLI had deprived the government of its revenue as the Hacienda management had assured HTNSJV of exemptions from royalty fees and clearance from access road.
And with an offsetting agreement, Remulla said both HLI and HTNSJV evaded paying the government the royalty fees as there was no delivery receipt issued for every cubic meter of sand extracted and delivered.
“The Aquino-Cojuangcos have circumvented the CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) Law to avoid subjecting Hacienda Luisita to agrarian reform. Now, they have also circumvented the Philippine Mining Law depriving the government of its revenue,” said Remulla.
Aquino, son of the late President Cory Aquino, has consistently avoided answering the Hacienda Luisita issue directly saying it’s all part of a smear campaign against him.
For his part, Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said Aquino has to explain the effects of the MoA to the farm workers who own 33 percent of the stocks in HLI.
“Definitely, HLI gained a substantial amount in terms of that road. Would that be reflected as a gain in their financial statement? Would the appreciation of the price of stocks of HLI also be reflected in their financial statement?” Mariano asked.
“What would then be its effects on the farm workers of the Hacienda Luisita? Would their stock price also increase? And would the HLI willingly give to the farm workers whatever gains it has acquired from the property? HLI has gained from every transaction they entered in connection with the SCTEX. The Aquino-Cojuangcos should then give to the farm workers whatever is due them.”
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