EDITORIAL - Not yet time for celebration

If Malacañang could really do something substantial about the plight of the farmers who want to regain agricultural lands in Sumilao, it would not have waited two months before acting on their grievances. The farmers need not have marched all the way from Bukidnon to Manila — a distance of 1,700 kilometers — to present their demands to President Arroyo. A regular flight from Manila to Bukidnon takes about two hours. In the age of cell phones and the Internet, Mala-cañang can be connected to any province in a matter of seconds; those farmers need never have left Bukidnon.

By phone or in a personal meeting with the President in Bukidnon, the farmers would have achieved nothing more than what they managed the other day at Malacañang: a presidential executive order reverting the 144-hectare Sumilao estate to agricultural use. Theoretically, the farmers could claim a victory. In reality, many of them may not see the land dispute resolved in their lifetime.

A major roadblock in the reclassification of the land is that its original private owner sold the estate to San Miguel Foods Inc. several years ago. SMFI has used the property for agribusiness and has won a Supreme Court ruling in its favor in the agrarian reform dispute. That ruling stands, and Malacañang has advised the parties in the dispute to resolve their differences in court. Palace officials also said that if the reclassification pushed through, SMFI would be reimbursed — surely not with taxpayers’ money, so the original owners are also likely to take the case to court.

Yesterday, as the farmers demanded the immediate implementation of the presidential directive, officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform clarified that the executive order reclassifying the estate was not yet final and ready for implementation. In the interest of due process, SMFI has 15 days to seek a reconsideration of the executive order, DAR officials said. If the reconsideration is denied, SMFI can take its case to the Supreme Court. Palace officials said the President did everything she could to deal with the problem. Now the farmers have another long wait ahead.