MANILA - Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita Inc has "fully complied" with the Supreme Court's order to distribute unused funds from the sale of over 500 hectares of its land.

In a resolution, the court said Hacienda Luisita already complied with its order to distribute to 6,296 land reform farm worker-beneficiaries unspent funds from the P1.33-billion sale of its 580.51-hectare land.

Of the said estate, 500 hectares were converted to non-agricultural use while the remaining portion was acquired by the government through expropriation for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

This after the Supreme Court's designated three-member audit panel found that Hacienda Luisita's legitimate corporate expenses from 1998 to 2011, the taxes it paid, expenses it incurred related to the sale, and the 3-percent share already distributed to the beneficiaries “far exceed the proceeds of the sale” of the subject lot.

This means that "there is no more unspent balance available for distribution," the court said.

The order for an audit was incorporated in the Supreme Court's decision in 2012 to distribute Hacienda Luisita's 4,915-hectare agricultural lands to the original 6,296 beneficiaries.