Three former agrarian reform secretaries, together with four former executives of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), urged the agency’s present leadership yesterday to uphold the letter and spirit of the law by immediately revoking the land conversion order issued on the contested 144-hectare property in Sumilao, Bukidnon, where San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI) is currently building a multibillion-peso, state-of-the-art hog farm.
In a joint press statement, former DAR Secretaries Florencio Abad (1990), Ernesto Garilao (1993-1998), and Jose Mari Ponce (2004), along with former DAR undersecretaries Hector Soliman and Gerardo Bulatao, former assistant secretary Clifford Burkley, and former legal director Ferdinand Casis, called on DAR Secretary Nasser Pangandaman to promote the intent of the agency’s land conversion rules.
“This case for immediate revocation is based very clearly in the rules of the DAR. A conversion order is given to an applicant as an exception to the general rule that agricultural lands should be covered under agrarian reform,” they said.
“And therefore if the specifics of the conversion order are not complied with within the time-frame of five years, then the property reverts back to the coverage of agrarian reform,” they added.
Garilao said it is important that the DAR uphold the letter and spirit of the rules on land conversion, as this would strengthen the department’s legitimacy in the process.
It was during Garilao’s term at DAR when the 144-hectare Sumilao property was given to the 137 farmer-beneficiaries.
“It’s a justice issue and therefore the law is on the farmer’s side. DAR laws are very clear with reference to conversion and revocation issues… The main issue here is the violation of the conversion order; other issues are mere subsequent issues,” Garilao told The STAR after a press conference at the picket line of the Sumilao farmers in front of the DAR central office in Quezon City.
The former DAR executives said SMFI, a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp., should have known that it bought an agricultural land conditioned upon compliance with the conversion order granted to its previous owner, Norberto Quisumbing Jr.
The former DAR executives though urged all parties to explore alternative modes of resolving the conflict so that all the stakeholders would be able to find a win-win solution to the case.
They also urged the DAR leadership to issue a cease-and-desist order for the meantime to provide all parties the proper environment to seek constructive solutions to the problem.
But Pangandaman stood his ground, saying that he would not be pressured by anyone into rendering a decision – whether a resolution on the case or a cease-and-desist order – until his department has reviewed all documents and pertinent matters as part of due process.
Nevertheless, he welcomed the proposals of his predecessors for all stakeholders to find alternative solutions to the conflict.
Pangandaman said the DAR might issue either a cease-and-desist order or an outright decision in the Sumilao case within the week.
He, however, appealed anew to all parties to give the DAR “just a short time” to decide on the controversy.