The Cojuangcos have rejected the plan of presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III to transfer ownership of the vast clan-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac to thousands of farmer-beneficiaries.
The New York Times reported over the weekend that Fernando Cojuangco, chief operating officer of Azucarera de Tarlac and Jose Cojuangco & Sons, rejected Aquino’s campaign promise to distribute up to 4,915 hectares of the hacienda to farmers under the agrarian reform program.
“No, we’re not going to,” Cojuangco told the Times. “I think it would be irresponsible because I feel that continuing what we have here is the way to go. Sugar farming has to be; it’s the kind of business that has to be done plantation-style.”
Aquino played down Cojuangco’s rejection, saying his first cousin represented only one of six families that own the hacienda.
“When I called for a meeting a month after I declared my presidential bid and gathered the six families, including mine, only one family, represented by my cousin, opposed the plan. All the rest agreed. So the talks are ongoing on how to proceed with the land distribution,” Aquino told the Manila Standard in a phone interview. FULL STORY
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