by Charlie V. Manalo (The Daily Tribune)
http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20100303hed4.htmlA former Cabinet official of the late President Ferdinand Marcos telling all in a proceeding in Congress on controversies involving the Hacienda Luisita may deal the death blow to Liberal Party (LP) bet Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s presidential aspirations, according to Cavite Rep. Crispin “Boying” Remulla.
Agrarian Reform Minister Conrado Estrella Sr. said over the weekend that he is willing to reveal atrocities done to farmers in Hacienda Luisita, including the maneuverings done by the family of presi-dential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to escape land distribution.
Noynoy can kiss his presidential bid goodbye once Estrella tells all on what he knows about the “blood-soaked history” of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, Remulla said.
Estrella indicated he will bare all he knows about the Hacienda Luisita controversy if invited by Congress to a public hearing.
“Minister Estrella can certainly deal Noynoy what I’d call a presidential candidacy-killer. I do not expect Noynoy or anyone from his camp daring Mr. Estrella to spill the beans or to unearth the ‘skeletons’ buried at Luisita,” said Remulla.
“By skeletons, I am, of course, speaking figuratively although a number of farmers had already been killed over the issue. But who knows what other can of worms might just be opened should Congress initiate an honest-to-goodness, no-holds-barred investigation on Luisita?” he stressed.
Remulla pointed out that Estrella may know a lot about how the family of Noynoy, especially the Cojuangcos, willfully violated the terms of their acquisition of Hacienda Luisita to escape distributing land to farmers.
“Let us not forget that it was Minister Estrella who first asked Noynoy’s family in 1967 to honor the terms of their P5.9 million loan to the GSIS which allowed them to purchase Luisita, along with Central Azucarera de Tarlac,” Remulla said.
“Forty-five years ago, Estrella had already been asking why Noynoy’s family had kept Luisita for themselves when they had promised in 1957 to distribute the land to farmers 10 years down the road,” Remulla pointed out.
As a stalwart of the Nacionalista Party (NP), Estrella said that any statement he would give on Luisita would only be brushed aside as “politically motivated” by Noynoy and the Liberal Party to which the latter belongs.
“But the Hacienda Luisita-SCTex massacre transcends political parties. It is a matter which every Filipino should be told, especially with Noynoy and his gang selling themselves to the public as paragons of virtue,” said Remulla.
Remulla himself had led a congressional investigation on Hacienda Luisita, but one pertaining to what he calls the “SCTex massacre.”
The Remulla investigation discovered the overprice paid by government to Noynoy’s family for some 80 hectares of Luisita that was affected by the SCTex road project, as well as project’s diversion to Tarlac from its original Subic-Clark route.
The terms of the Cojuangcos’ loan to the GSIS state that the “land comprising the Hacienda Luisita shall be subdivided by the applicant-corporation and sold at cost to the tenants, should there be any, and whenever conditions should exist warranting such actions under the provisions of the Land Tenure Act.”
Jose Cojuangco, Sr. originally asked for a loan of P7 million from the GSIS, of which P5.9 million was approved subject to the land redistribution stipulation.
Also, in 1957, the Central Bank’s Monetary Board approved the dollar loan application of Cojuangco with the Manufacturer’s Trust of New York, with the Central Bank providing the dollar cover by depositing part of its international reserves with the bank.
Thus, it was the GSIS and the Central Bank which sued the Cojuangcos in 1980 for non-compliance with the terms of its loans, winning the case at the Manila RTC only to see it withdrawn at the Court of Appeals by the government when Noynoy’s family first came to power following the EDSA Revolution in 1986.
Agrarian Reform Minister Conrado Estrella Sr. said over the weekend that he is willing to reveal atrocities done to farmers in Hacienda Luisita, including the maneuverings done by the family of presi-dential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to escape land distribution.
Noynoy can kiss his presidential bid goodbye once Estrella tells all on what he knows about the “blood-soaked history” of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, Remulla said.
Estrella indicated he will bare all he knows about the Hacienda Luisita controversy if invited by Congress to a public hearing.
“Minister Estrella can certainly deal Noynoy what I’d call a presidential candidacy-killer. I do not expect Noynoy or anyone from his camp daring Mr. Estrella to spill the beans or to unearth the ‘skeletons’ buried at Luisita,” said Remulla.
“By skeletons, I am, of course, speaking figuratively although a number of farmers had already been killed over the issue. But who knows what other can of worms might just be opened should Congress initiate an honest-to-goodness, no-holds-barred investigation on Luisita?” he stressed.
Remulla pointed out that Estrella may know a lot about how the family of Noynoy, especially the Cojuangcos, willfully violated the terms of their acquisition of Hacienda Luisita to escape distributing land to farmers.
“Let us not forget that it was Minister Estrella who first asked Noynoy’s family in 1967 to honor the terms of their P5.9 million loan to the GSIS which allowed them to purchase Luisita, along with Central Azucarera de Tarlac,” Remulla said.
“Forty-five years ago, Estrella had already been asking why Noynoy’s family had kept Luisita for themselves when they had promised in 1957 to distribute the land to farmers 10 years down the road,” Remulla pointed out.
As a stalwart of the Nacionalista Party (NP), Estrella said that any statement he would give on Luisita would only be brushed aside as “politically motivated” by Noynoy and the Liberal Party to which the latter belongs.
“But the Hacienda Luisita-SCTex massacre transcends political parties. It is a matter which every Filipino should be told, especially with Noynoy and his gang selling themselves to the public as paragons of virtue,” said Remulla.
Remulla himself had led a congressional investigation on Hacienda Luisita, but one pertaining to what he calls the “SCTex massacre.”
The Remulla investigation discovered the overprice paid by government to Noynoy’s family for some 80 hectares of Luisita that was affected by the SCTex road project, as well as project’s diversion to Tarlac from its original Subic-Clark route.
The terms of the Cojuangcos’ loan to the GSIS state that the “land comprising the Hacienda Luisita shall be subdivided by the applicant-corporation and sold at cost to the tenants, should there be any, and whenever conditions should exist warranting such actions under the provisions of the Land Tenure Act.”
Jose Cojuangco, Sr. originally asked for a loan of P7 million from the GSIS, of which P5.9 million was approved subject to the land redistribution stipulation.
Also, in 1957, the Central Bank’s Monetary Board approved the dollar loan application of Cojuangco with the Manufacturer’s Trust of New York, with the Central Bank providing the dollar cover by depositing part of its international reserves with the bank.
Thus, it was the GSIS and the Central Bank which sued the Cojuangcos in 1980 for non-compliance with the terms of its loans, winning the case at the Manila RTC only to see it withdrawn at the Court of Appeals by the government when Noynoy’s family first came to power following the EDSA Revolution in 1986.
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