DAR to charge exec who ordered arrest of Land Bank president

Malacañang ordered yesterday Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza to file administrative charges against a DAR provincial official who ordered the arrest of Land Bank of the Philippines president Margarito Teves last May.

Under Memorandum Order No. 78, dated Oct. 28, Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo directed Braganza to file charges of "oppression and grave misconduct and other offense" against Nueva Ecija provincial agrarian reform adjudicator Napoleon Baguilat.

The charges stem from Baguilat’s order on May 17 to arrest Teves ostensibly for indirect contempt after the bank executive failed to explain the role of LandBank in a land dispute involving 53 hectares of farmland in Nueva Ecija.

Baguilat’s order resulted in the arrest of Teves and his detention for several hours at the Western Police District on May 20.

Romulo noted that an investigative committee, which Braganza created in May, found prima facie evidence "to proceed administratively" against Baguilat.

"Accordingly, the Secretary of Agrarian Reform, after the appropriate formal charges shall have been filed against (Baguilat), is hereby directed to create a committee within that department to formally conduct an investigation on the said charges," read MO 78.

The DAR committee was empowered to summon witnesses, administer oath, call upon any government agency to assist in the investigation and issue subpoenas as provided by the Administrative Code of 1987.

Romulo gave the committee 30 days to submit their findings and recommendations to the President through Braganza. But MO 78 did not mention other DAR officials who were allegedly involved in the supposed overvaluation of farm land in Nueva Ecija.

Teves’ arrest led Central Luzon farmers’ groups to question why Baguilat’s arrest order covered hectarage that was not on record, supposedly indicating that Teves was imprisoned for some cases that had not even been submitted to LandBank.

Other DAR sources claimed Baguilat ordered Teves arrested to establish a "test case" that could be used as a "precedent" in a number of other land reform cases that are still pending resolution.

The farmers’ group Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahang Magsasaka (Pakisama) had accused DAR adjudicators of allegedly colluding with landowners in the settlement of land reform cases.

Task Force Mapalad, a 15,000-strong farm workers organization, and the Philippine Peasant Institute (PPI) have also charged that Teves’ arrest shows the agrarian reform officials in the countryside are conniving with landlords to defeat the government’s land reform program.

DAR probers discovered in May that Baguilat ordered Teves’ arrest for allegedly failing to appear before an adjudication board hearing to explain why he had failed to pay P75 million to the heirs of landowners Loreto Santos and Ferdinand Santiago as compensation for 53 hectares of rice and corn land.

But the LandBank argued that the disputed property had already been placed under land reform way back in 1972 and the landowners had already been fully compensated under Presidential Decree No. 27, which was the prevailing land reform law in 1972.

The landowners maintain, however, that the land should be valued under Republic Act 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1987. The landowners stand to received P75 million under the RA 6657.

Under an earlier investigation, Baguilat claimed to have based his arrest order on a memorandum of understanding which valued the contested land at P75 million.

But the DAR chief said the memorandum of agreement, which was supposedly drafted by DAR Nueva Ecija lawyer Benjamin Baui, itself presented more questions because Braganza said he was neither a signatory nor was he informed of such an agreement.

The dispute was brought before the Cabanatuan City regional trial court, sitting as a special agrarian court, but Baguilat issued the arrest order against Teves while case was still pending.

The order, however, appeared to be faulty and did not provide bail for Teves although the matter was not considered a heinous crime. No less than Justice Secretary Hernando Perez questioned its legality and advised Teves to sue those involved in his arrest.