September 16, 1999

DAR OPINION NO. 03-00

MEMORANDUM

FOR             :     CONRADO S. NAVARRO
                           Undersecretary
                           Field Operations and Support
                           Services Office

SUBJECT    :     Comments on The Coverage of Portions
                           of Lungsod Silangan

This refers to the letter dated 19 April 1999 of Mr. Ruben A. Benedicto, ARBA-LUSIFASA Integrated Chapter President, relative to their 25-year problem over Lungsod Silangan Townsite. According to Mr. Benedicto, out of the 652 hectares A & D agricultural lands subject of Joint DAR-DENR Administrative Order No. 2, Series of 1988 and Joint PENRO-PARO Special Order No. 2, Series of 1990 for CARP compulsory acquisition, only the lands in Purok 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in Cupang and a few lands in Tulakin, San Juan and Igiban, Mayamot, Antipolo, Rizal were left; that the farmers never enjoyed peaceful possession and cultivation and never benefited tenurial safety in their farming situations; that he sought the assistance of the Office of the President for the issuance of a new proclamation which was indorsed to the DENR; and that the DENR acting on the said document wrote to Mr. Benedicto commenting that a Presidential Proclamation is not necessary, if the purpose is to place the area within the coverage of the Program considering that the same is already covered by Presidential Executive Order No. 448.

We agree with the position of OIC-Regional Technical Director Lino H. Rustia, DENR that a Presidential Proclamation may no longer be necessary if the purpose is to place the area, assuming that it is agricultural, within the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of the government pursuant to Presidential Executive Order No. 448 which serves the same purpose, the pertinent provision of which is quoted hereunder:

"Sec. 1-A.     All lands or portions thereof reserved by virtue of Presidential proclamations for specific public uses by the government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations suitable for agriculture and no longer actually, directly and exclusively used or necessary for the purposes for which they have been reserved, as determined by the Department of Agrarian Reform in coordination with the government agency or instrumentality concerned in whose favor the reservation was established, shall be segregated from the reservations and transferred to the Department of Agrarian Reform for distribution to qualified beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program." (emphasis and emphasis supplied)

Executive Order No. 448, mandates the segregation for CARP coverage of said lands suitable for agriculture, if the same are no longer actually, directly and exclusively used or necessary for the purpose for which they have been reserved. Thus, portions of lands not actually, directly and exclusively used or necessary for townsite purposes within the boundaries of the Lungsod Silangan Townsite may be excluded from the operation of Presidential Proclamation 1283, Presidential Proclamations 1637 and Letter of Instruction 625 and placed under the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program for distribution to qualified beneficiaries. However, there should be a joint coordinative determination by DAR and the government agency concerned pursuant to the aforequoted provision of E.O. No. 448

It may be worth mentioning DOJ Opinion No. 181, Series of 1990, the pertinent declarations of which, cited in DAR Memorandum Circular No. 25, Series of 1997, as amended by DAR M.C. No. 5, Series of 1998, are as follows:

" . . . the dismissal of the expropriation proceedings against the A. Doronila properties and the passage of R.A. 6657 did not adversely affect the continuing enforceability of Proclamation Nos. 1283 and 1637 and LOI No. 625. Hence, the status of subject properties as being embodied within a townsite reservation is still valid and subsisting."

xxx                      xxx                      xxx

"Since the lands covered by the two Proclamations in question have been reserved for townsite purposes to be developed as human settlements by the proper land and housing agency, the same are not deemed "agricultural lands" within the meaning and intent of Sec. 3 (c) of R. A. No. 6657. . . ."

Despite the above, it is believed that the landholdings in issue or portions thereof may be segregated from the Lungsod Silangan Townsite but only if there is a  joint coordinative determination by DAR and the government agency concerned that said lands are suitable for agriculture and no longer actually, directly and exclusively used or necessary for townsite purposes.

(SGD.) WILFREDO M. PEÑAFLOR

Assistant Secretary for Legal Affairs, and Policy and Planning

Copy furnished:

Mr. Ruben A. Benedicto

ARBA-LUSIFASA Integrated Chapter President

Purok 3, Zone 7-B, Cupang

Antipolo City