July 13, 1994
DAR OPINION NO. 43-94
Mr. Elmer Doon Cabello
Provincial Agrarian Reform Office
Puerto Princesa City, Palawan
Dear Mr. Cabello:
This answers your letter of 30 June 1994. In said letter, you request for clarification as to whether the phrase "landholding ceilings" in the first paragraph of Section 70 of RA 6657 refers to the 5-hectare ownership limit in Section 6, or to the 3-hectare award ceiling in Section 25 of CARL. In addition, you recommend that the development permit from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board not be made a pre-requisite for the development of the area covered by a DAR Conversion Order, as provided under DAR Administrative Order No. 1, Series of 1990. You believe that making the date of the issuance of the development permit as the reckoning date for the period within which development of the area must be completed can be used by the landowner/grantee of the DAR Order of Conversion as an excuse for not developing the area by simply not applying for a development permit, thus rendering said requirement inutile.
Anent your query, it is evident that Section 70 expressly covers the sale or disposition of retained areas, hence, the term "landholding ceilings" as used therein does not refer to award to beneficiaries but to the 5-hectare landownership limit under Section 6 of RA. 6657.
As regards your observation on the requirement under DAR A.O. 1, series of 1990 that the development of the area covered by a DAR Order of Conversion be completed within a specified period after the issuance of the development permit, please note that the development permit is a requirement imposed by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, without which no development can legally be undertaken. Anent your apprehension that the landowner might not at all have the intention of developing the area, justifying the non-development on the lack of a development permit (for which he did not apply in the first place), it should be noted that if such bad faith can be established, the Order of Conversion may be cancelled or withdrawn.
Please be guided accordingly.
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) HECTOR D. SOLIMAN
Assistant Secretary
Legal Affairs Office