By Amado P. Macasaet
With only two years left of his term, President Aquino seems to be committing one blunder after another.
The latest we heard is the payment to the owners of Hacienda Luisita the whopping sum of P5 billion through the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
We have no information as of press time Monday evening on how the sum was justified and why DAR accepted the money without a specific purpose.
The DAR may be held liable for illegal payment of a sum of money from DAP which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
What we know of land reform is that landowners of large tracts of land like Hacienda Luisita are by force of law, required to give up the land to the tenants or tillers of the soil under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law passed in the term of the late President Cory Aquino.
They are paid with bonds that mature in 20 years without interest.
There can be no valid reason the illicit funds may be used to benefit the President’s family that owns Hacienda Luisita. The huge hacienda, bought from Tabacalera, a Spanish company, was supposed to have been distributed to around 5,000 tenants eking out a living in practical serfdom from the rich man’s land.
DAR valued the land at P5 billion. If the owners of the hacienda, particularly the President want to lay their hands on the price of the land they did not even part with to the tenants but made it appear they did so, they should wait for the bonds to mature. Or sell the bonds at a huge discount.
We heard the President may be held liable for 220,000 counts of technical malversation.
If the court determines (in the event President Aquino is charged) bail at P50,000 per count, the total bail would amount to an incredible P11 billion, an amount more than twice the P5 billion he authorized DAR to pay the owners of Hacienda Luisita.
However, a sitting President is immune from all kinds of suit. He can be removed only by impeachment. He may be sued after stepping down.
The owners complied with the land reform law in another mode. They created a cooperative among the tenants. The Cojuangcos of the family of the late Don Pepe, father of President Cory, are the managers of what is described as “corporative”, suggesting the hacienda is a corporation owned by the tenants.
The tenants claim they have nothing but a piece of paper proving their membership in the cooperative. They proclaim to the world no benefits have come their way although the land is planted to sugarcane.
For whatever purpose the P5 billion DAP money was paid to the owners of the hacienda, it is now clear that the owners benefitted two ways from the land they manage for the farmers.
They have not shared the profits from any crop supposedly sugarcane the land is planted to for the benefit of the tenants. That is one way.
The other way is getting paid with “dirty” money President Aquino himself created from the funds of government agencies.
I cannot see any reason how money made dirty by the President himself by using it although it is not in the appropriations law can be used as largesse for favored politicians. This is proven by more than 100 special allotment and release orders given to the lawmakers.
The money is not supposed to exist, not for the use of anybody for the simple fact that it is not appropriated in the budget.
In that sense, DAP is worse than pork barrel, allegedly stolen by three lawmakers. Pork is appropriated in the budget but misused or allegedly stolen.
DAP is not in the budget. The President has no right to use funds which are savings of many government agencies for public welfare, least of all give part of it to his family.
Giving DAP to his family or to anybody for that matter, including favored lawmakers may be considered a criminal act.
The President is a victim of his own “criminal” act. Having only two years left of his term, he will soon be considered a lame duck.
He disabled himself to the people who love and adore him for his reputation of being honest.
The people made a mistake. The people will punish him with hatred. If he had considered that, he would not be committing one blunder after another that he would have to pay for at the proper time.
People are probably thinking the President has no respect at all for the constitutionally guaranteed separation of powers among the three branches of government.
He cannot accept the ruling that the DAP is unconstitutional.
Is his fight with the Supreme Court an impulsive reaction to the ruling or is he mad because he knows he committed the crime of technical malversation using the DAP?
He probably thought that the Chief Justice he appointed for a term of more than 20 years has the leadership qualities to herd her peers to the side of the President.
Another mistake, or was it the first mistake? Chief Justice Sereno made the ruling unanimous by not dissenting against the majority.
Using P5 billion of DAP money to pay the owners of Hacienda Luisita is not technical malversation. It is outright theft of the money that, I must repeat, does not exist because it is not in the budget.
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Email:amadomacasaet@yahoo.com
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