FARMERS belonging to the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura or UMA on Friday slammed Tarlac Rep. Noel Villanueva as an “aryendador” or lessee of the pieces of land that were distributed in Hacienda Luisita Inc. under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
“The cat is out of the bag,” UMA secretary-general Danilo Ramos said.
He said Villanueva had revealed himself as an aryendador when he questioned the constitutionality of Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano’s nullification of the selling and leasing out of the farm lands awarded to the farmer-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita.
He said Vilanueva acted as the spokesman of the other local politicians and influential personalities who rented out or bought CARP lands from the farmers.
He said close to 4,000 farmers had been “duped” by local politicians and other influential personalities within the past three years since the distribution of the certificates of land ownership awards by the Department of Agrarian Reform.
On April 26, Mariano declared that all sold and leased pieces of agrarian land at the Hacienda Luisita were null and void.
Ramos said Villanueva must also be charged for renting out the distributed agrarian lands.
UMA earlier identified Agrikulto Inc., a subsidiary of Central Azucarera de Tarlac or CAT, as one of the aryendadors in Hacienda Luisita.
CAT is now owned by Martin Lorenzo and Fernando Cojuangco while Agrikulto Inc. was specifically bought by it to increase the sugarcane supply of the sugar mill, Ramos said.
Voting 14-0 on April 24, 2012, the Supreme Court ordered the distribution of about 4,900 hectares of the hacienda to about 6,000 farmer-beneficiaries.