December 20, 2007 | 12:00am
Two months after a long arduous 1,700 kilometer trek from Sumilao, Bukidnon in Mindanao to the Malacañang Palace to get justice for the hotly contested 144-hectare property, the Higaonon farmers of Sumilao got what they fought for after meeting with no less than Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA). Of course the current landowners, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) which came out with one-page advertisement on national newspapers claiming that they bought the property in “good faith” would have to do certain legal actions in order to stop the Presidential directive to cancel the conversion of that property and put it under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
Pundits correctly point out that this brings the farmers back into square one as it means cleaning the slate and starting from the beginning. While this is true, this is a much better arrangement for the farmers than allow the giant food conglomerate SMC do something about that property. Now should we say, all’s well that ends well? I don’t think so. Until we see these farmers start tilling this land, only then can we say that Justice has been served. In the end, the only legal remedy for SMC is to file a case to get their money back from the original owner where they bought it. However let me say it clearly here that SMC should not insist that they were buyers in good faith for the simple reason that knowing how SMC operates, they should have been diligent and learned about the legal controversy swirling around this property. Even with that Supreme Court decision in 1997, it did not stop the farmers from pursuing their mass actions via a hunger strike or that 1,700 kilometer walk for Justice.
In short, even with the full support of the Catholic Church and the sympathies of the President of the Philippines, we won’t be seeing an early resolution to this problem as there would certainly be legal actions made due to this recent decision that has now favored the Higaonon farmers. As for Pres. Arroyo, pundits are already saying that she did this to gain “pogi points” especially at a time when latest surveys showed a big dip in her popularity. But then, there are many people who are throwing brickbats on either the President or the Higaonon farmers for their own selfish interests.
Those poor farmers are up against the big, rich and powerful businessmen and they have their backs against the proverbial wall. But then, the President sided with the poor farmers, like the dictum that the late President Ramon Magsaysay espoused, “Those who have less in life should have more in law.” I think the President’s siding with the poor was the right thing to do.
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Still about a case of Justice or Injustice, we are seeing a most unique legal battle a brewing in the Tañon Strait where there is a petition for certiorari with mandamus and injunction being filed by lawyers Gloria Estenzo Ramos and Rose Liza Eisma Osorio as “legal guardians” of the lesser life-forms and responsible stewards of God’s creation. This is what is known as an “Out of the box” legal maneuver. It would certainly enrich our country’s jurisprudence.
This case being filed in the Supreme Court intends to stop the drilling of the West coast of Cebu where there is an ongoing offshore exploration by the Japan Petroleum Exploration Company, Ltd. (Japex). What makes this case further interesting is that, the petitioners have included Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as an “unwilling co-petitioner” after all, she did sign the ASEAN charter to protect the marine habitat.
How will this case prosper is something we are all interested to know. How long will the Supreme Court act on this issue is totally in their hands. The problem is that there is a huge global demand for oil because there are no new oil fields that have been discovered. Hence there is a frenzy of exploration activities even here in the Philippines. We have long believed that there is oil in Tañon Strait and this oil exploration would finally settle the issue whether the oil there is of commercial quantity.
On the other hand, there is indeed a good case to protect the marine habitat or wildlife within the Visayan Seas, something that the Philippine government neglected for a long time. So, which is more destructive to the marine life in the Tañon Strait, the oil exploration platform or the uncontrolled fishing trawlers that ply the straits and the dynamite fishing that unscrupulous fishermen has been using? This very interesting case would certainly give us better knowledge of environmental issues and how our government would respond to a case where the petitions are seeking justice for dolphins.
