A scary scenario

To the Point

A scary scenario

By Emil Jurado

At long last, the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita—4,355 hectares of agricultural land, formerly owned by Tabacalera as a sugar plantation—will now be distributed to 6,296 original beneficiaries. The Cojuangco family will be paid P196.6 million, not P5 billion as they sought, and the payment would be amortized over 30 years.

There are many ways of looking at this decision of the Supreme Court, now final and executory.

First, the decision affirmed the government’s commitment to social justice.

Second, that the 1989 valuation of the land was used was definitely for the interest of the farmer beneficiaries, who had been enslaved for long by ruling Conjuangco family.

Most importantly, this gives President Benigno Aquino III a chance to have his defining moment, as he is mandated by the Constitution to render justice to every man.

The Supreme Court came out with the decision despite the protests of the relatives of the President and the administration’s efforts to savage the integrity of the high court.

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The anti-Corona forces have unleashed their attack dogs anew. A new survey by the Social Weather Stations says 46 percent of 1,200 respondents agree that People Power should be used to force Chief Justice Renato Corona out of office if the Senate does not convict him.

Santa Banana, where is the Aquino administration leading us to? Mob rule?

Indeed a mob has many heads— but no brain.

I must confess that this scenario scares me. The Corona haters are fomenting anarchy and repudiation of the rule of law.

I am disturbed that SWS would use such a highly suggestive statement in its survey. It injects into the public’s mind the idea of defying the decision of an impeachment court. It encourages an assault on the Supreme Court and the Senate, both pillars of our democracy.

The survey also betrays the onset of panic in the Palace. By now, it must be sensing that it could be losing its battle in the Supreme Court.

It must be stressed here that the SWS survey, which I am told was commissioned by people close to the President, was conducted from March 10 to 13, when the defense was just starting to present its case and all that the public remembers were the arguments of the prosecution.

The release of the findings comes two weeks before the resumption of the trial on May 7. I believe this has two objectives. It wants to condition the public into believing the charges against Corona. It also wants to influence senators who are still undecided into casting a guilty verdict on the basis of what is touted as “public opinion.”

I recall, however, having read another survey that the public will accept any decision that the Senate would hand down.

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Despite the appeal of claimants —the Manotoks, the Barques and the Manahans —the Supreme Court affirmed its decision to give 34 hectares of land, worth P4 billion, to the Philippine government. What is odd is that the government is not even claiming the land in the first place.

It’s interesting to find out why the court told the claimants to basically “go to hell.” The short answer is sin.

Why? Remember the two kinds of sin—mortal and venial. Mortal sins consign us to damnation. Venial sins may be forgiven by a compassionate God.

I believe the Manotoks committed the equivalent of mortal sin. All their critical documents were deemed fake. No less than the NBI declared the 1919 sales Certificate and four subsequent assignments of sales certificates were fake. They came four years after TCT No. 22813 was executed. This would be impossible based on the Friar Lands Act.

The Barques also committed the equivalent of mortal sin. Their documents were also fake and had serious flaws.

The Manahans for their part only suffered from the sins of others. But the court said that the Manahan claim was also null and void. This was because their documents were signed by the Director of Lands and not by the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, as required by law. I believe that the document was only voidable, not null and void.

I hope God would be more merciful to those who committed only venial sins.