All’s well that ends well.

Liberal Party standard bearer Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III Thursday disclosed the endorsement of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) of his candidacy finally put an end to the animosity between the influential religious group and his family which grew out of the latter’s request for the Cojuangcos to close down Hacienda Luisita in the ‘60s.

INC members had a bitter experience with Hacienda Luisita. Decades ago, INC farmers and family members were allegedly "forced out” of Hacienda Luisita because of labor issues. INC members resigned from the union after being prompted by their church circular dated April 1, 1959. Expulsion from the INC church was imposed on those who violated the circular.

The resignation of INC members from the United Luisita Workers' Union (NLU), resulted to a friction and ire between them (INC members) and the Union labor leaders, local residents in the Hacienda and the Hacienda Luisita (Tarlac Development Corporation). INC administration led by Erano Manalo tried to intervene but to no avail. They held meetings between the INC representatives and the union leaders but no amicable solutions were resolved. The INC decided to make a mass exodus of the INC members from the Hacienda Luisita. On February 1965, INC members made an exodus from the Hacienda Luisita to their new relocation site in Barrio Ma-Hgaya, Nueva Ecija.

The Iglesia Ni Cristo-Hacienda Luisita conflict may have triggered the decision of Manalo and his followers to refuse any involvement with Cory Aquino. When the 1986 People Power happened, Manalo and the INC members stood behind late strongman Ferdinand Marcos. They refused to heed the "call" of People Power with Cory Aquino.

Hacienda Luisita is a 6,435-hectare sugar plantation in Tarlac province owned by the Cojuangco family that was spared from actual distribution to farmer-beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) during the presidency of the senator’s mother, Corazon Aquino.

Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), incorporated on Aug. 23, 1988, controls 70 percent of Luisita’s shares of stocks. The firm’s incorporators are Noynoy’s uncles and aunts: Pedro Cojuangco, Josephine Reyes, Jose Cojuangco Jr., Teresita A. Lopa, and Paz Teopaco, all brothers and sisters of the late President Corazon Aquino.

According to Aquino, the longstanding issue was never mentioned when he met with the leaders of the INC. He said he met INC Executive Minister Eduardo V. Manalo and the Church Council thrice during the campaign period.

The senator from Tarlac also pointed out that even during the time when he was running for Congress and the Senate the INC leadership did not send any word with regard to the matter.

“I have been the beneficiary since my second run in my congressional district second in the senatorial race and now for the presidency. And I am most grateful for the support they have given me,” Aquino told reporters during an ambush interview.

Aquino also said he did not offer something to the INC in exchange for its endorsement. Neither did the religious group make any demands, he said. “I did not offer anything. We are just here to serve the people,” Aquino said.

He stressed that he did not actually expect the endorsement of INC. “I am more of a pessimistic person. I prepare for the worst, hope for the best so if the worst comes instead of preparing for the best and the worst comes I will be ready,” Aquino said.

And with him leading in numerous surveys and now the endorsement of INC, does he feel he is the brink of winning the presidency? “I cannot look at it as a personal fight. This is not a question of Noynoy winning the presidency. This is a question of whether or not the people will be able to choose and their choice is reflected without question in the proclamations to be conducted in the proclamation of winning candidates in the presidential, vice presidential and national posts,” he said.