The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and state-run Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to pay P28 billion in just compensation to Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI), in line with a Supreme Court ruling mandating the distribution of HLI land to farmer beneficiaries.
In a 35-page decision, the CA said the Tarlac City Regional Trial Court-Special Agrarian Court (RTC-SAC) erred in its computation of compensation for HLI. The amount to be paid, the appellate court stressed, should be “real, substantial, full, ample, just and fair,” taking into account factors listed under Section 17 of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
The ruling covers 4,500 hectares of land owned by the Cojuangco family.
In a statement, the DAR said: “We will reserve our legal position in an appropriate pleading with proper coordination with DAR legal services and the Solicitor General.” It added, “DAR, as was before, now and ever will always uphold what the law provides.”
The appellate court granted HLI’s petition for review and reversed the February 15, 2023 decision and August 11, 2023 resolution issued by RTC Branch 63 in Tarlac City, which had acted as the Special Agrarian Court.
“Respondents are ordered to pay petitioner the total amount of P28,488,944,278.71 as just compensation as of 30 April 2025, without prejudice to the accrual of interest until fully paid,” the CA said.
The court ruled that the RTC-SAC failed to consider actual and reliable data, noting that HLI had submitted documentation on Average Gross Income, which was dismissed by the DAR Adjudication Board without proof that the data was inaccurate or unverifiable.
The CA also found that the RTC-SAC merely adopted the DAR Adjudication Board’s findings and relied on valuations by DAR and LBP, without independent assessment.
The CA explained that the P28 billion valuation was based on a prescribed formula that considered both the value of the property and potential income the landowner could have earned. It deducted the P471.5 million already received by HLI in 2013.
The Supreme Court originally ruled in November 2011 to distribute nearly 5,000 hectares of HLI land to around 6,000 farmer-beneficiaries.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “CA orders DAR, LandBank to pay Hacienda Luisita estate P28-b.”
