June 8, 1998
DAR OPINION NO. 67-98
MS. DELIA B. EVAROLO
Provincial Agrarian Reform Office
Tagum, Davao
Dear Ms. Evarolo:
On hand is your letter of 10 March 1998 addressed to the Honorable Secretary of justice which was indorsed to this Department, seeking legal opinion as to what are the implications of your status now as a Department of Agrarian Reform employee and your being a beneficiary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) long before you were employed as a Cash Clerk of the Provincial Office of DAR at Tagum, Davao. You pose the issue as to whether you remain as CARP beneficiary and resign as DAR employee, or remain as DAR employee and surrender your ownership as CARP beneficiary in the area co-owned by your parents, brothers and sisters.
You state that in 1957 your parents Isabelo Evarolo, Sr. and Adelaida Baruiz occupied the subject land and developed it by planting permanent crops like coconut, fruit trees, cacao, coffee and some portions were devoted to the production of cash crops like corn, soybeans and peanuts; that all your brothers and sisters were born in the area and you grew up helping your parents further develop and maintain the land; that unknown to your family and to the rest of the actual occupants therein, your occupations were included in the Reservation of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines and the title was issued in the name of the GSP which practically covers the barangays of Sabangan, Kipalili, Concepcion and your Barangay Igangon.
You further state that when the DAR covered the area under CARP sometime before 1992, DAR personnel conducted an identification of the areas of cultivation of each family/household; that your family's area of occupation is about fifteen (15) hectares; that during the distribution phase, you were then a student at the University of Mindanao who goes home during Saturdays and Sundays to help your family in the routinary farming activities; that MARO Ceferino F. Falter conducted screening on the qualifications of the occupants in your Barangay and considering that the actual occupation of your family is 15 hectares, more or less, and the award ceiling for each beneficiary according to R.A. No. 6657 is only 3 hectares, the children of the potential beneficiaries were further subjected to screening; that at that time you were already of age and ever since helped in the cultivation of the subject land; that you were then allowed by the DAR personnel to apply as beneficiary and ultimately your name was included as co-owner of the land together with the other qualified beneficiaries; that a collective Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) was issued covering the barangay of Igangon with the qualified occupants therein as co-owners; and that sometime in 1994 you were given an appointment as Cash Clerk of DAR Provincial Office at Tagum.
Republic Act No. 6657, particularly Sections 6, 22, 23 and 25 thereof enumerates the qualifications of an agrarian reform beneficiary. To be an agrarian reform beneficiary, one must: a) be landless; b) at least 15 years old or head of the family at the time the property was transferred in the name of the Republic of the Philippines; and c) have the willingness, ability and aptitude to cultivate the land and make it as productive as possible.
Given the aforesaid qualifications, and considering that during the identification and distribution phase of the land subject of the Collective CLOA, you were deemed as possessing all the required qualifications and none of the disqualifications, it is our opinion that your subsequent employment with the DAR after the issuance of the Collective CLOA is not per se a ground for the forfeiture of your right as a beneficiary. However, please note that your interest or right over the property awarded may be cancelled or forfeited on grounds provided for by law and other pertinent rules and regulations such as neglect or abandonment of the awarded land continuously for a period of two (2) calendar years as determined by the Secretary or his authorized representative (Item IV-B, DAR Administrative Order No. 2, Series of 1994).
We hope to have clarified the matter with you and please be guided accordingly.
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) ARTEMIO A. ADASA, JR.
Undersecretary for Legal Affairs, and Policy and Planning
Copy furnished:
OSEC
Doc. No. 98040452
Teresita Reyes-Domingo
Senior State Prospo or & OIC-Technical Staff
Department of Justice
Manila
PARO Saturnino D. Sibbaluca
DAR-Provincial Office
Tagum, Davao
ARDO Rodalfo T. Inson
Assistant Regional Director for Operation
DAR, Region XI, Davao City