Hacienda Luisita to hold dialogue with workers amid losses

TARLAC CITY — The management of Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), which oversees the operations of the 6,000-sugar estate here owned by the family of former President Corazon Aquino, will hold a dialogue with the estate’s more than 5,000 workers amid the company’s "huge production losses."

In a statement, HLI farm manager Ricardo Lopa Jr. was quoted as saying there is a "need to draw up major changes that will entail a cut in production cost without sacrificing (the firm’s) profitability."

The management wants to hold a new round of collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the United Luisita Workers’ Union (ULWU) to come up with "corrective measures that will ensure (Hacienda Luisita’s) viability owing to huge production losses during the past cropping years."

Lopa said "remedial measures" have become imperative for the company "to ensure (the) continued employment and bigger dividends entitled to all employees of the HLI."

In doing so, he said they want to prevent an "eventual closure" of the sugar estate, citing "economic uncertainties brought about by the sharp drop of sugar prices in the market."

HLI’s production report pegged a 7.97 percent increase in the total tonnage per hectare of milled sugar from October last year to March this year.

The sugar estate recorded a yield of 61.46 tons per hectare for the 2002-2003 crop year, and 69.43 tons in the recent crop year.

Lopa attributed Luisita’s "production success" this year to the use of "high-yielding" variety of sugarcane, the "full cooperation" of the farm workers, a "new and efficient" irrigation system, the use of mechanical cane harvesters and modern farming techniques, and improved seedbed preparation.

The HLI, however, was only able to plant an aggregate area of 3,483 hectares, compared to 3,965 hectares in the past cropping year.

There were also incidents of sugarcane burning, with 547.62 hectares of sugarcane destroyed by fire last year, and another 486 hectares this year, resulting in 5,718 tons of sugarcane lost.

But purportedly because of the sharp plunge in sugar prices, the company claimed losses of P215.11 million in 2002-2003, and another P165.5 million in 2003-2004.

The HLI said it expects to suffer P136 million in losses for 2004-2005, explaining that sugar commodity prices have dropped from P873.22 per 50-kilo bag to P791.49.

Besides, Lopa revealed that Hacienda Luisita is at a loss in looking for fresh capital to cover its losses since creditors are no longer interested in lending money to the Cojuangco-owned firm.

This, he said, explains why there is an "urgent need" for a dialogue with the farm workers "to map out strategies and solutions that will keep HLI as a viable business venture."

Hacienda Luisita, which covers 10 villages in this city and the neighboring towns of Concepcion and La Paz, is being managed as a joint corporate venture between the Cojuangco family and the farm workers under the so-called "stock distribution option" (SDO) under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The CARP was the centerpiece program of the Aquino administration.

Under the SDO arrangement, workers of the sugar estate are regarded as "fellow shareholders" in the HLI.

But militant farm workers, particularly those belonging to the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang-Bukid sa Hacienda Luisita (Ambala), alleged that the SDO scheme has not been working for their interests since most of them live in poverty while the Cojuangcos derive "super profits" from the sugar estate’s operations.

Ambala, an ally of the radical groups Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and the left-leaning party-list groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela, has been demanding the redistribution of land in Hacienda Luisita instead.