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AGRARIAN
Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman on Wednesday vowed
to quickly resolve the controversial case involving the
144-hectare farm- land formerly owned by the Quisumbing
family in barangay San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon, that
farmers wanted to be placed under the coverage of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The
case, which was remanded by Malacañang to the Department
of Agrarian Reform (DAR) on November 22, stems from a
petition for cancellation filed by some 150
farmer-claimants in Sumilao, Bukidnon, for alleged
violation of the conditions of the conversion order by
its new owner, San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI), a
subsidiary of San Miguel Corp. (SMC).
The
Sumilao farmers, to dramatize their demand for social
justice, launched the Lakaw Sumilao! Walk for Justice!
campaign and traveled from San Vicente, Sumilao, to the
DAR offices in
Quezon City.
The
farmers are expected to finish the final leg of their
1,700-kilometer walk that started two months ago on
Thursday with a protest action in front of the DAR
building.
SMFI
plans to turn the farmland—which was converted from an
agricultural land to an agro-industrial land by virtue
of an executive order issued by then-Executive Secretary
Ruben Torres—into a hog farm, and construction of
state-of-the art facilities is now ongoing.
Farmers
are contesting that the conversion order has clear-cut
conditions and a specific completion period required by
law, which allegedly lapsed, hence the demand for
Malacañang to cancel or nullify the conversion order and
the demand that the property be again placed under CARP.
In
canceling or nullifying the conversion order, there is a
chance for the property to be converted back to
agricultural land, and thus can be covered by CARP.
It can
be recalled that before the conversion order was issued
and affirmed as legal by the Supreme Court, the DAR had
already awarded certificate of land ownership awards (Cloa)
to some 150 Sumilao farmers. Since it was already
converted, the Cloas were cancelled, denying them their
claims to the Quisumbing landholdings.
Pangandaman, however, refuted the claims of the
protesting farmers that they are totally “landless,”
saying some of them were actually Cloa holders.
He said
the DAR has issued Cloas to Sumilao farmers covering 60
hectares of land outside the disputed property way back
when he was still DAR undersecretary.
“I was
the one who facilitated the distribution of the Cloas to
the farmers and I know they are not totally landless,”
he said.
Nevertheless, Pangandaman vowed to resolve and act with
dispatch on the issues raised by the farmers based on
the merits of the case. He said that first, he will
resolve the petition to issue a cease and desist order,
then decide whether a violation of the conversion order
was indeed committed by the parties involved.
Meanwhile, the lawyer of the Sumilao farmers, Marlon
Manuel, meanwhile said the 144-hectare property was sold
and bought in bad faith.
“SMFI
bought the land from the Quisumbings in 2002, barely
three years after a highly controversial land-conversion
order was approved with finality. SMFI could not have
been unaware that the piece of prime agricultural land
that it bought was bound by a development with a
specific five-year completion period required by law. As
buyer, it could not claim innocence to the previous
owner’s obvious intent to evade the agrarian-reform law
through a conversion plan that had not even taken off
when the sale took place,” he said.
According to Pangandaman, he had already ordered the
Center for Land Use Policy, Planning and Implementation
(CLUPPI) to conduct an assessment of the controversial
case.
“I have
already created two CLUPPI teams to assess the case and
I’m expecting them to submit a recommendation tomorrow,”
Pangandaman, who just arrived from Sumilao, Bukidnon,
told reporters during a hastily called press conference
at the DAR Conference Hall yesterday morning.
According to Pangandaman, the early resolution of the
case is only proper since it would enable all concerned
parties to move on.
Pangandaman said five buildings were found to be already
constructed, two of which were already furnished with
feeding devices and other structures for pigs.
Considering the stage of development works that are
going on in the disputed property, observers said
deciding the Sumilao case would not be easy.
The SMFI
project would cost around P3 billion and could generate
as many as 4,000 jobs, according to SMFI project site
manager Neriu Liu. The farm would have its own feed mill
and waste-treatment facilities.
Before
the ocular inspection, Pangandaman met with Gov. Jose
Zubiri of Bukidnon and Sumilao Mayor Mary Ann Baula to
discuss the possibilities about the contested property.
The
farmers were invoking Administrative Order 1, Series of
2002, which states that the landowner has five years
within which to develop the area according to the
specifications provided therein, which they said had
elapsed in 2004.
SMC
lawyer Wilfredo Peñaflor, however, insisted that the SMC
management is well within the five-year grace period
since the development work is supposed to start on the
day development permits are secured. In this case, it
should commence in 2004, he said. |
