July 1, 1998

DAR OPINION NO. 78-98

PARO LINDA G. HERMOGINO

Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer

B.S. Aquino Avenue

Baliuag, Bulacan

Dear PARO Hermogino:

This refers to your letter dated 13 May 1998 seeking for guidance and legal opinion on the queries posed therein, to wit:

a)         Can the Department of Agrarian Reform set up a time frame for the landowner to comply with the tenet of the Resolutions from the Office of the President directing that the instant case be remanded to the DAR for reception of evidence to determine which properties are exempt from CARP coverage, which lands may be converted into non-agricultural uses, and which may be subjected to compulsory coverage? and

b)         Whether the DAR Provincial Office of Bulacan can proceed with its mandated task, to wit: 1) to process claim folders; 2) generate, register and distribute CLOAs; and 3) other related activities pending compliance by the landowners of the aforementioned required directives of the Office of the President.

As gleaned from you letter, the subject properties are owned by the Puyat family and/or The Manila Banking Corporation and its affiliate companies; and that the coverage of said landholdings is momentarily held in abeyance in view of the directives from the Office of the President that the instant case be remanded to the DAR for the reception of evidence to determine which properties are covered and which are exempt.

Anent your first query, Section 4 of Republic Act No. 6657 (Comprehensive Agrarian reform law) expressly provides that said law shall cover, regardless of tenurial arrangement and commodity produced, all public and private agricultural lands as provided in Proclamation No. 131 and Executive Order No. 229, including other lands of the public domain suitable for agriculture. Specifically, paragraph (d) thereof provides that all private lands devoted to or suitable for agriculture regardless of the agricultural products raised or that can be raised thereon are subject to compulsory acquisition by the government through DAR for distribution to qualified farmer-beneficiaries. Section 7 of the same law (first and fifth paragraphs) further provides that "The DAR, in coordination with the PARC, shall plan and program the acquisition and distribution of all agricultural lands through a period of ten (10) years from the effectivity of said Act (i.e., 15 June 1988)" and that there is "the need to distribute lands to the tillers at the earliest practicable time" (emphasis supplied). Moreover, DAR Administrative Order No. 12, Series of 1989 likewise provides that in order to hasten the implementation of the CARP, compulsory acquisition shall be the priority mode of land acquisition.

Corollary to the aforementioned provisions of law, the acquisition of agricultural lands in excess of the retention are is therefore imperative and should in no case be dependent on the willingness of the landowners to have their properties covered. To continuously accede to their will and to indefinitely wait for the subject evidences to be submitted to DAR despite the lapse of already more than one year from the time the Office of the President had issued the aforesaid directives, would now obviously place the coverage of the lands in issue at the mercy of landowners whose primary objective is patently to unduly delay and derail the implementation of R.A. No. 6657. This should not be countenanced.

Anent your second query, the authority of the government through the DAR to compulsorily acquire and distribute to qualified beneficiaries agricultural lands in excess of the retention area is clearly provided under the law as earlier cited and the date as to when the acquisition should be undertaken cannot be the subject of bargaining, compromise or delaying strategies. Thus, any attempt by the landowners to unduly stall and eventually to spare the properties from CARP coverage should be frowned upon, otherwise, the purpose of this significant piece of social legislation to acquire as many agricultural lands as possible at the earliest practicable time within the 10-year time frame will be rendered nugatory and will never be transformed into reality. Accordingly, the acquisition and distribution process should now be undertaken with reasonable dispatch ideally before 15 June 1998 or immediately thereafter.

In view of all the foregoing and in sum, it is submitted that by reason of the non-compliance (for a period of more than one-year already) by the landowners to submit the evidences as required by the directives of the Office of the President, it is now incumbent upon us to proceed the soonest with the coverage process, otherwise, we will be remiss in our legally mandated task to speedily and effectively implement the Program.

Please be guided accordingly.

Very truly yours,

(SGD.) ARTEMIO A. ADASA, JR.

Undersecretary for Legal Affairs, and Policy and Planning

Copy furnished:

Office of the President

Malacañang, Manila

The Regional Director

DAR Region III

San Fernando, Pampanga

Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer

DAR Municipal Office

Norzagaray, Bulacan