Supreme Court starts mediation on Luisita row

MANILA, Philippines - The special mediation panel created by the Supreme Court (SC) has started efforts to settle the long-standing dispute between Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) and its farmer-beneficiaries through a compromise deal.

The HLI, through its lawyers led by Gener Asuncion, offered options to the panel chaired by SC Associate Justice Alicia Austria-Martinez for amicable settlement of the case in a closed-door meeting yesterday at the SC building.

Tony Ligon, spokesman of the sugar estate, told The STAR that HLI presented to the panel the compromise agreement they offered to the farmers earlier this year.

“We told them that HLI is still willing to distribute the lands, although we asked the farmers and most of them preferred stock distribution option (SDO). The panel wanted to explore all possible options,” he revealed.

A group of beneficiaries led by lawyer Christian Monsod wanted the SDO option scrapped from the list, but the mediation panel wanted to first look at all options available, he said.