Hacienda Luisita and Land Reform

Land reform is linked to social justice. When Spain colonized the Philippines by force beginning 1521, its land was already claimed by the conquistadors in the name of Spain. The natives who were already tilling the land were put under Spanish landlords, who were given royal grant to “own” the land and exact forced labor and taxes from the natives. After the Spaniards left, the Americans took over. When the Philippines became independent in 1946, history had set right by giving the lands back to the people whose ancestors have been tilling then for centuries. However, a new feudal system developed among Filipinos themselves, and once again drove a wedge between the tillers and their land. This paper aims to give light the concerning controversies surrounding the Hacienda Luisita and analyze how these controversies preoccupy the present administration of Pres. Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III.

Before the Cojuangco family acquired Hacienda Luisita in the 1950s, the plantation belonged to the Spanish- owned Compaña General de Tabacos de Filipinas (Tabacalera). Tabacalera acquired the land in 1882 through a royal grant from the Spanish crown, which had a self-appointed claim on the lands as the Philippines’ colonial master. Luisita was named after Luisa Bru y Lassus, the wife of the top official of Tabacalera. Tobacco used to be the main crop planted in Luisita, but in the 1920s the Spanish owners shifted to sugar. Sugar production in the Philippines had become more profitable because demand was guaranteed by the US quota. In 1927, the Spaniards built the sugar mill Central Azucarera de Tarlac to accompany their sugarcane plantation. By the 1950s, aggravation over the Hukbalahap rebellion made the Spaniards decides to sell Hacienda Luisita and leave the Philippines. In 1957, President Ramon Magsaysay reportedly blocked the sale of the plantation o the wealthy Lopezes of Iloilo, fearing that they might become too powerful as they already owned Meralco, Negros