Solons push probe on Luisita SCTEX share

By George Trillo

SAN MIGUEL, Tarlac -- Tarlac– In a queer political alliance, administration and militant members of the House of Representatives have joined forces in pressing for the alleged share of the Aquino family in the multi-billion-peso Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

Reps. Danilo Suarez of Quezon, Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla of Cavite, Ma. Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay of Zambales and Reylina Nicolas of Bulacan have linked with left-wing Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano in pushing for a House probe on the SCTEX issue.

Suarez and Magsaysay are allied with the administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD, whose standard-bearer is former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, while Remulla is a stalwart of the Nacionalista Party of Sen. Manny Villar Jr., a fellow presidential aspirant.

The 6,453-hectare Hacienda Luisita is owned by the family of opposition Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, particularly by the Cojuangcos, or on his maternal side. The maiden name of his mother is Corazon Cojuangco, more popularly known as Cory, a democracy icon.

The family of the late President Aquino controls the large sugar plantation, and hacienda workers own more than 33 percent of it.

Aquino, only son of the ex-president and martyred Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., his second cousin Teodoro (also a former Tarlac congressman) and Villar are all rivals in the May 2010 presidential elections. Aquino is the standard-bearer of the opposition Liberal Party.

Party-list Rep. Mariano, who represents the peasants group, has been raising the labor issue in the sugar plantation, while the group of Re-mulla had alleged that both the Aquinos and Cojuangcos have benefitted from the construction of the interchange.

On Nov. 26, the House committee on oversight of Suarez conducted an ocular inspection on the P32.8-billion SCTEX, a 93-kilometer stretch that ironically neither has rest rooms nor emergency bays for motorists.

When the panel was about to visit the Luisita Techno Park, the five lawmakers – who were accompanied by Bases Conversion Development Authority officials and Manila-based media – were denied entry, however. Guards claimed there was no go-signal from management.