No less than 8,975 farmers and agricultural workers are pinning their hopes of finally getting land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in the event the Supreme Court (SC) junks the already invalidated stock distribution offer (SDO) implemented in Hacienda Luisita.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said Monday these farmers and workers work in 14 plantations in Tarlac, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Iloilo and Davao del Sur.

The KMP said the biggest is still Hacienda Luisita, which has 4,916 hectares of land covered by the SDO and beneficiaries numbering 6,296.

The Hacienda Luisita SDO was approved on Nov. 11, 1989, or more than two years after former President Cory Aquino announced her agrarian reform program that would cover all plantations producing a variety of crops.

At five members per household, the total number of people affected is about 50,000.

All told, the total area covered by the 14 SDOs is 8,388 hectares, which is large enough to provide more than 29,000 metric tons (MT) of rice per cropping season or thousands of kilos of vegetables during the off-season.

Of the 14 SDOs approved, 11 were granted during the incumbency of the late President Cory Aquino.

However, the Hacienda Luisita SDO was revoked by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) under Resolution No. 2005-32-01 dated Dec. 22, 2005.

Only three SDOs were approved during the term of President Ramos and covered only smaller plantations in Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Davao del Sur.

The KMP is campaigning for the junking of the Hacienda Luisita SDO and its drive has been buttressed somewhat by a statement from the High Court that the SDO, recently affirmed in a referendum, does not have anything to do with the verdict of the magistrates.

The holding of such referendum was questioned by Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Bayan Muna and other progressive party-lists.

Based on documents, the large plantations that would have to be dismantled if the High Court rejects the Hacienda Luisita SDO are six SDOs for sugarcane plantations in Negros Occidental approved on Feb. 15, 1991: Archie Fishpond, Inc., with 102 hectares; Arsenio Al. Acuna Agricultural Corp., 108 hectares; Elenita Agricultural Dev't Corp., 113 hectares; Ma. Clara Marine Ventures, Inc., 58 hectares; Palma Kabankalan Agricultural Corp., 219 hectares, and; Tabigue Marine Ventures, Inc., 50 hectares.

The others are: Ledesma Hermanos Agricultural Corp., with1,024 hectares in Negros Occidental, approved on May 13, 1991; SyCip Plantation, Inc., 685 hectares in Negros Oriental, approved on Nov. 13, 1991; Negros Industrial By-Products and Processes, Inc., in Negros Occidental, with 438 hectares, approved on Feb. 28, 1992; Wuthrich Hermanos, Inc., with 174 hectares in Iloilo, approved on Sept. 1, 1992; SVJ Farms, Inc., with 170 hectares in Negros Occidental, approved on Nov. 16, 1992, and; Asia Agro-Industrial Enterprises, with 100 hectares of coconut plantation in Davao del Sur. approved on April 26, 1994.

Mariano said the SDO was based on Section 20 of Executive Order No. 229 issued by the late President Cory Aquino in 1987 ostensibly to implement agrarian reform.

Hacienda Luisita management has banked on Section 31 of Republic Act No. 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which was enacted into law in 1988, to justify the SDO and the referendum to ask beneficiaries whether they would hold on to their shares of stock or just get land.

Mariano said a reading of RA 6657 would show that SDO was not contemplated, and thus could not be invoked as the basis for the latest compromise agreement.