THE SUPREME Court (SC) has reversed a Court of Appeals (CA) ruling that exempted Hacienda Bitanagan in Mati City, capital of Davao Oriental, from the government’s agrarian reform program, paving the way for the distribution of 285 hectares of land to farmers.
In a 29-page decision dated Aug. 15 last year and made public on May 31, the High Court said the 2010 order of Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Davao Regional Director Datu Yusoph B. Mama that approved the estate’s exclusion from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) violated the Constitution.
“This Court should not forget that ‘it is no less than the Constitution itself that has ordained this revolution in the farms, calling for a just distribution among the farmers of lands that have heretofore been the prison of their dreams but can now become the key at least to their deliverance,’” according to the ruling penned by Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F Leonen.
In 2017, the appellate court upheld the regional director’s order saying he had jurisdiction to issue the order.
The DAR secretary in 2012 revoked Mr. Mama’s order, saying the land was not being used exclusively for cattle raising activity and that the estate generated income from both farming and livestock raising.
“Before the application for exclusion can be granted, there must be a showing that the landholding is actually, directly, and exclusively used for livestock raising,” the Supreme Court said.
Danilo Ramos, chairman of farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, said the DAR should immediately act on the High Court’s ruling and start distributing the land to beneficiaries.
“There are many more similar agrarian cases wherein agrarian reform beneficiaries have to assert their right to the land through all forms possible —through courts, protests, and dialogues,” he said in a Viber message.
CARP is based on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988, which was enacted to “promote social justice and industrialization.”
DAR Secretary Conrado M. Estrella told a news briefing on Tuesday that his agency had resolved the land ownership dispute in Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion, Tarlac in northern Philippines and will distribute 450 land titles covering 200 hectares of land in two weeks.
He said about 200 land cases would be resolved by May 31, adding that at least 500,000 hectares of land still need to be distributed to farmer beneficiaries in the next five years.
“We will try our best to finish resolving these cases under the term of President [Marcos],” Mr. Estrella said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
