SOME 200 Hacienda Luisita farmers on Wednesday held a protest action at the Supreme Court to urge the justices to affirm with finality their ruling that ordered the distribution of the vast sugar plantation to its 6,296 farmer-beneficiaries in compliance with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL).

The farmers belonging to the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) as well as members of the feminist group Gabriela sought an immediate end to the issue involving Hacienda Luisita’s distribution following a near-violent confrontation between the farmers and security guards of the land owned by the family of President Aquino.

The groups assailed Hacienda Luisita Inc.’s decision to contest the outright distribution of the land to the farmer-beneficiaries by filing a motion for reconsideration of the Court’s November 22, 2011 ruling which affirmed its July 5, 2011 decision ordering the distribution of the sugar plantation and holding that the just compensation for HLI’s agricultural land should be computed based on the valuation of the land in 1989, when the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) approved its stock distribution option plan.

On Tuesday tensions erupted after hundreds of bolo-wielding farmers stormed the security guards’ outpost and dismantled a fence preventing them from cultivating the farm in Barangay Balete, Tarlac City.

Reports said security guards fired their guns into the air to scare off the farmers and stop them from rushing toward the area being claimed by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC).

Tensions in the Cojuangco-Aquino land have reportedly been escalating following the Court’s ruling giving the farmer-beneficiaries the right to own the land they are tilling.

During the protest action on Wednesday, the farmer-beneficiaries asked the Court to junk HLI’s motion for reconsideration amid Aquino’s alleged maneuverings to “preserve his vested interest in Hacienda Luisita.”

“Aquino will move heaven and earth to remain steadfast on his campaign to preserve his vested interest in Hacienda Luisita. His deep resentment not only with the Court but also to farmworkers [is] written all over his putrid yellow rhetoric of accountability, transparency and respect of the law while at the same time hitting and neglecting the democratic rights of the people including the Hacienda Luisita farmworkers to live with dignity,” Uma and Ambala said in a joint statement.

The protesters noted that while Mr. Aquino was busy pushing for the ouster of Chief Justice Renato Corona, he has forgotten to address the more pressing issues affecting the country such as the unabated oil-price increases, low wages and violation of human rights.

The group also said that Mr. Aquino’s appointment of Francis Jardeleza as solicitor general and the possibility of Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno being appointed as Corona’s replacement in case he is found guilty by the Impeachment Court, was part of his bid to protect their family’s interest over the sugar plantation.

The party-list group Anakbayan and its student-supporters also called on the SC to defy Mr. Aquino’s alleged vendetta through the impeachment of Corona.

“We urge the Justices to frustrate Noynoy’s obvious attempt to subvert the Court and to uphold the granting of social justice for the farmers of Hacienda Luisita” Vencer Crisostomo, Anakbayan national chairman, said.

Migrante International also issued the same call to the SC as it asked the justices to junk the motion for reconsideration that was filed by the Conjuangco-Aquino family and rule on the case with finality.

Migrante said in a statement: “We call on the SC justices to be steadfast and not be unsettled by political and legal maneuvers being employed by the Cojuangco-Aquinos to prevent the implementation of the SC ruling.

“The motion for reconsideration filed by Cojuangco-Aquino family is a malicious and unnecessary legal obstacle meant to strip farmers and farmworkers of their right to the land despite the SC decision.”

Garry Martinez of Migrante International said that the Court should immediately order the free distribution of Luisita lands to farmworkers.

Crisostomo agreed with the observation of some sectors that the removal of Corona from the SC through the impeachment was a way to reverse the decision by replacing him with a “pro-Aquino” Chief Justice.

“The SC need not fear Noynoy and his greedy clan for in this case, they have the Filipino people behind them,” he said.

Crisostomo called on the Court to frustrate the distribution of lands by requiring the Luisita farmers to compensate the Aquinos with at least P10 billion.

“The profit alone that the Cojuangco-Aquinos have derived from several generations of the farmers’ families should be more than enough compensation. Add to that the fact that the land should have been given to the farmers since the ’60s, under a contract with the government, then there is no justification for just compensation,” he said.

Migrante called on all overseas Filipinos to support the farmers’ rights over Hacienda Luisita.

“Genuine land reform is a fundamental concern of all migrants and their families, without which we cannot completely address the phenomenon of forced migration,” Martinez said.

He said the “just compensation” demanded by Luisita owners was a way for them to skirt the real issues and evade the immediate distribution of lands to the farmers.

Kilusang Mayo Uno also asked the SC to take the motion for reconsideration filed by the Aquinos “to further uphold the interests” of Luisita farmers.

KMU said that this should be done by removing in the earlier decision the provision for just compensation; inclusion in the coverage of distribution the 500 hectares that were purchased by RCBC and inclusion of the 1,000 hectares that were excluded; firm up the provision on the owners’ payment to farmers from the earnings of sold portions of Luisita to corporations and declare the stock distribution option in all haciendas in the country unconstitutional.

(With Sara Fabunan)