Common Cause @

MANILA: Hacienda Luisita is a sugar plantation in Tarlac in Central Luzon; it is so large that it can accommodate both the cities of Makati and Pasig. It is owned by Martin Lorenzo and the Cojuangco-Aquino family, which includes Corazon Aquino and Noynoy Aquino (Wikipedia). Naturally, it has been the object of land reform.  On 30 September 2013, the tenants of Hacienda Luisita began receiving their individual Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) to portions of Hacienda Luisita; the first certificate was given by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to Benigna Mañalac, 82 years old (Jo Martinez-Clemente, 01 October 2013,  newsinfo.inquirer.net ). That day, she was the first of around 600 who received their CLOAs from Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio De Los Reyes. The total CLOAs comprised only 390 ha of the estate; there are about 4,100 ha covered by land reform out of the 6,453 ha of Hacienda Luisita. There are 6,298 landless workers involved. The news today, Tuesday, 03 N