Land Bank president freed

Land Bank of the Philippines president Margarito Teves, who was arrested over a dispute with landowners in Nueva Ecija, was released after several hours of detention at the Western Police District (WPD) warrants section.

Teves was released after Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza personally delivered to the WPD warrants section an order by the national DAR Adjudication Board (DARAB) late Monday night.

After five hours of deliberation, the DARAB allowed Teves to post a P20,000 bail. It also restrained for 20 days the implementation of the order of provincial agrarian reform adjudicator Napoleon Baguilat directing Teves’ arrest.

At the same time, Braganza also formed a special committee, chaired by Assistant Secretary Roel Eric Garcia, to determine if Baguilat’s arrest order was not an abuse of discretion.

Braganza ordered the probe on Baguilat who ordered Teves’ arrest over a dispute with landowners on the disposition of 53 hectares of rice and corn land in Nueva Ecija.

"I will not hesitate to impose sanctions should it be proven that he (Baguilat) went overboard and abused his discretion in ordering the arrest of the Land Bank president," Braganza said.

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said he also found it "unusual" for Baguilat to have issued an arrest warrant for Teves.

"I find it unusual. Normally, a writ of execution is issued and not a warrant. If I were (Teves), maghahalo ang balat sa tinalupan (they’ll never hear the end of this). No person can be imprisoned for non-payment of debts," Perez said.

Perez said Teves could sue Baguilat for violating his constitutional rights since Article 3, Section 20 of the Constitution provides that "no person shall be imprisoned for debts or non-payment of a poll tax."

"You don’t order the arrest of someone for that is tantamount to imprisonment. The remedy is to attach the property because it’s the institution which has debts," he stressed.

"It’s the first time that I have heard that an executive has been imprisoned for non-payment of debts," Perez added.

Meanwhile, DAR sources in Cabanatuan City said the investigation on Baguilat was "only the tip of the iceberg" since several questions have been raised on Teves’ arrest order and other land reform cases.

Among the questions was the hectarage covered in Baguilat’s order which appeared to be more than what was on record. This supposedly indicates that Teves was imprisoned for some cases that had not even been submitted to the Land Bank.

Other DAR sources said Teves was allegedly ordered arrested to establish a "test case" that could be used as a "precedent" in a number of other land reform cases that were pending resolution.

While the DAR prepared to begin the probe on Baguilat, a federation of small farmers’ groups expressed support for Teves and accused DAR adjudicators of allegedly colluding with landowners in the settlement of land reform cases.

"DAR adjudicators should know that the P75 million value pegged by the landowners are way beyond the capacity of farmers to pay," said Ananias Loza, national president of the Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (Pakisama).

Pakisama also said Teves’ short-lived detention showed the problems confronting land reform in the country.

"We welcome the imprisonment of Mr. Teves (as) it just shows the absurdity of the justice system," said Pakisama national council chairman Vic Fabe.

"Clearly, the losers in this case are the farmers with incompetent adjudicators and seemingly confused guidelines for land valuation, the farmers have no one to turn to for protection," Fabe added.

Teves was arrested at his office in Manila on Monday afternoon by WPD policemen and DAR deputy sheriff Eduardo Santos from Cabanatuan City.

The lawmen said the arrest was effected on orders of Baguilat because Teves had failed to appear before a hearing of the provincial agrarian reform adjudicator (PARAD) to explain why he had not complied with an earlier order directing Teves to deposit some P75 million as compensation for the rice and corn land.

But the Land Bank contested the PARAD’s ruling as the land in question had already been placed under land reform way back in 1972 and had already been valued under the guidelines provided by Presidential Decree 27.

Under its valuation in 1972, Land Bank valued the 53 hectares of land at some P3 million, or about P56,000 per hectare, which has already been fully paid.

However, the landowners, led by the heirs of a certain Loreto Santos, argue that their lands should be covered under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law and should also be paid some P75 million although they had already been supposedly paid P3 million. - With Delon Porcalla and Marichu Villanueva