Nasugbu ARBs not aggrieved, DAR insists
The Department of Agrarian reform on Tuesday maintained that no dispossession of land of farmers will happen in the settlement of the Nasugbu, Batangas dispute, which involves hectares of land that are being repossessed by publicly listed firm roxas and Company Inc., or rCI.
reacting to the series of stories published by DAILY TRIBUNE in recently, DAr Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Napoleon Galit said the resolution of the land dispute between farmer groups and rCI covering Haciendas Palico, Banilad and Caylaway, all in Nasugbu, Batangas, did not deprive the farmers of their land.
Galit said the Supreme Court, under G.r. 127876 dated 17 December 1999, ruled in favor of roxas and Co. Inc., resulting in the invalidation of the certificates of land ownership award or CLoAs issued to the farmers.
“This led to the protracted litigation between the two parties in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, and the office of the President, before the DAr stepped in as the mediator last year, in an honest effort to get the two parties to come to a mutually beneficial settlement. Media reports that 50,000 farmers were affected by the order are false,” Galit said.
According to Galit, DAr records showed that Atty. Nenita Mahinay represented four legitimate farmers groups in the case, namely, DAMBA, KAMAHArI, ArBA and DAMBANFSW, which had an approximate membership of 1,300 farmers.
“All actions undertaken by the DAr were the result of the mutual consensus between both parties, which agreed to withdraw all cases pending before the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, and the office of the President, and yield to the exclusive jurisdiction and authority of the DAr in the matter,” according to Galit.
Per the DAr order, Galit said the total land area of the three haciendas to be divided equally among the farmer groups and landowners totaled 1,322.23 hectares each.
“The members of the farmer groups will now undergo the DAr’s validation process and all of the necessary operational aspects and proceedings of identification, technical description approval, and issuance of individual CLoAs shall follow,” he said.