Monday, December 03, 2007 DAR chief to lead probe on Sumilao land case By Ryan Rosauro Ozamiz correspondent
AGRARIAN Reform (DAR) Secretary Nasser Pangandaman is personally taking charge of investigating the Sumilao case after the Office of the President has remanded the matter to him.
In a ruling dated November 16 but was only publicly disclosed this week, the Office of the President tasked the DAR to hear the petition of Sumilao farmers to revoke a 1996 land use conversion order that effectively spared the disputed 144-hectare Quisumbing estate from agrarian reform coverage.
Lawyer Arlene Bag-ao, counsel for the farmers, said a principal feature of the recent decision by the Office of the President is the recognition of the farmers' legal standing to petition.
In light of the ruling, Bag-ao said Pangandaman held a dialogue with them last Thursday during which he announced he will personally review related documents in order to come up with an "objective decision" on the case.
Bag-ao said Pangandaman is scheduled to visit Sumilao on Monday for an ocular inspection of the disputed estate, "expressing the intention of personally ascertaining whether the current piggery project (of San Miguel Foods, Inc.) is really in violation of the 1996 conversion order."
Bag-ao revealed that Pangandam received instructions from Malacañang to resolve the case before the 50 Sumilao farmers who is walking from Bukidnon to Manila arrives in the national capital.
As of mid-day Saturday, the protesting farmers have reached San Pedro, Laguna and are expected to enter the national capital by next week.
Ping-pong
Recently, the farmers are asking the DAR to issue and cease-and-desist order on the piggery project of San Miguel Foods, Inc. (SMFI), which acquired the Quisumbing estate on January 2002. They contend that the piggery project does not rhyme with the land use conversion order.
But mainly, the farmers are petitioning the revocation of the 1996 conversion order so that the estate be placed again under coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and subjected to redistribution to the qualified farmer-beneficiaries.
The petitioning farmers are among the 137 identified beneficiaries in 1990 when the Quisumbing estate was placed under CARP coverage.
They were issued a certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) by the DAR on September 1995.
The revocation petition has been filed with the DAR on November 3, 2004.
Some two years after, Pangandaman ruled that his office has no jurisdiction over the matter, passing it up to the Office of the President, which issued the 1996 conversion order.
An appeal on the DAR ruling made by the farmers with the Office of the President was rejected on October 3 this year. A motion for reconsideration on the appeal yielded the recent ruling remanding the case with the DAR.
While Bag-ao said that the recent ruling is "a welcome development," she is wary of a "ping-pong ball" scenario for the case that "could incur another period of delay."
"Hopefully, the December 10 deadline (to resolve the case) holds true for Secretary Pangandaman," said Bag-ao, referring to the supposed Palace timetable.
Landholding
The revocation petition banked on a September 25, 2007 memorandum to the DAR secretary issued by DAR northern Mindanao regional director John Maruhom detailing the non-compliance by the NQSRMDC of stipulations in the land conversion order.
The same memo recommended that "a notice of coverage be immediately issued" to place the disputed Quisumbing estate under the CARP.
With land conversion approval firmed up in August 1999 through a Supreme Court ruling, the NQSRMDC have until August 2004 to shift the estate's use from purely agricultural to agri-industrial activities.
But Maruhom's memo noted that "there is nothing in the said landholding that would indicate compliance with the development proposals submitted by NQSRMDC."
"Worse, it sold the said landholding to San Miguel Foods, Inc. (SMFI)," Maruhom further noted.
The act of selling the land, Maruhom observed, is "clearly showing its non-interest to pursue the purpose for submitting an application for conversion," referring to NQSRMDC.
Even with a new owner, Maruhom said use of the estate should still strictly follow the conversion order, adding that SMFI, which is undertaking a piggery project, should "be declared as to have violated" the rules.
Maruhom himself noted that a report of non-compliance has been submitted to the DAR secretary as early as June 20, 2005 by then regional director Alimoden Domado.
Bag-ao, who is executive director of non-government Balaod Mindanao, said that even without the farmers' petition, Maruhom's memo, as well as others preceding it "is actionable by itself."
