Sumilao case goes to SC
The former owner of the contested 144-hectare property in San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon yesterday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to nullify the
Meanwhile, farmers from the disputed Sumilao estate are resuming today their “walk for justice,” apparently dissatisfied with the government’s “half-baked” response to their crusade to reclaim the land currently owned by a big corporation.
The farmers, in a press conference yesterday, said they were determined to retrace their two-month, 1,700-kilometer walk that ended last Dec. 21, until they get the land they said was rightly and justly theirs.
In its 50-page petition, the Norberto Quisumbing SR Management and Development Corp. (NQSRMDC) asked the Court to issue a restraining order against the Palace directive.
NQSRMDC also stressed that the SC had also earlier ruled in favor of the property’s conversion from agricultural to agro-industrial.
Named respondents in the petition were Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and the Mapadayonong Panaghiusa sa mga Lumad Alang sa Damlag (Mapalad).
NQSRMDC, through its lawyer, Froilan Bacungan, said the Palace order for the cancellation of the decision issued by Ermita was a case of “grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction” and that proceedings being undertaken by the Office of the President on the matter unduly prejudiced them.
According to the petitioner, the decision to cancel the conversion order impaired their warranties and undertakings to San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI), which formed part of its obligation as a seller of the property, and opens them (NSQRMDC) to suit from SMFI.
“The land, which is now the object of controversy, is already outside the coverage of the comprehensive agrarian reform law. And there was a decision made by the SC that says this property has already been converted to non-agricultural use. So this is a fight against propaganda,” Bacungan said.
“What the Palace says is not the law. We have to look at the decisions made on this matter. That is our legal position. We want the SC to nullify the order given by the President,” Bacungan added.
Last Dec. 18 the Office of the President, through Ermita, granted the petition for the cancellation and/or revocation of the conversion order covering 144 hectares of land at San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon filed by Mapalad as represented by Paterno Tuminhay.
The Office of the President remanded the Sumilao case to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) last Dec. 22. The Sumilao farmers, through Mapalad, then petitioned for the cancellation/revocation of the land conversion of the property formerly owned by Quisumbing for failure to comply with the conditions set in the conversion order.
The Sumilao farmers also asked the DAR to issue a cease and desist order against the new owner of the property, SMFI, to stop its ongoing development work in the area while their petition for cancellation of the conversion order is being heard. SMFI bought the disputed property from NQSRMDC on
NQSRMDC claims Pangandaman’s actions demonstrate his “predisposition... to railroad the proceedings in favor of jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction.”
“The impunity with which petitioner’s constitutional right to due process was violated, the utter disregard of the rulings of this Court in an earlier case involving the same subject property and the same so-called farmer-claimants, the continuing propaganda campaign being waged by private respondent Mapalad and its supporters, and the very recent declaration by public respondent DAR Secretary to proceed with the identification of beneficiaries for the disputed property, has left petitioner with no other choice but to seek relief from this honorable court, as the ultimate guardian of the rule of law in this country,” the petitioner said. – Edu Punay
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