Court stops CARP annotation of Negros Occ LGU property

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — The court has prevented the Register of Deeds from annotating the fact of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) coverage on 500,000 square meters of property in Brgy. Sta Rosa Murcia purchased by the Provincial Capitol for its Negros First Ranch project.

In his decision dated June 29, 2012, Regional Trial Court Branch 42 Judge Fernando Elumba issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Register of Deeds from implementing the Department of Agriculture—Land Registration Authority Joint Memorandum Circular No. 17 series of 2011 allowing it to annotate the land reform coverage on original copies of land titles.

Provincial Legal Officer Jose Ma. Valencia said the Capitol is protesting the planned annotation of 500,000 square meters of land within the Negros First Ranch in Sta. Rosa because it is now a government property, and being a “pasture land,” it should be excluded from CARP coverage.

The DAR said that unless the Capitol secures a cease-and-desist order, it will continue with the planned annotation of the property, Valencia said.

“We can’t understand why DAR should continue with it, because one, this is a government project; second, the tax declaration of the land is a pasture land, and pasture land is excluded from coverage of agrarian reform order,” he said.

The property is part of the 159-hectare property in Sta. Rosa Murcia that the Provincial Capitol bought for its Negros First Ranch project.

The Capitol earlier filed criminal charges against 18 alleged illegal occupants at the ranch, who were claiming to be agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) owning the 50,000 square meters of the property. They claimed having CLOAs (certificate of land ownership award) to the property, under the CARP, said Valencia.

The occupants allegedly forcibly occupied the 50,000-square meter property at the ranch and threatened personnel assigned at the ranch last April, he said.

Valencia said that what complicated the matter is when the governor wrote DAR last February 6, asking for a clearance or exemption for the property, the DAR instead issued a notice of coverage that says 50 square meters of the 159-hecatre property will be covered by CARP.

This notice prompted the illegal occupants to claim ownership of a portion of the land, he said, even if DAR had already certified these properties as non-CARPable.

As of now, illegal occupants are near the area, and the Capitol is maximizing its security at the ranch, he said.