September 4, 1998
DAR OPINION NO. 87-98
ATTY. FLORANTE P. PAMFILO
Counsel
San Andres Realty Development Corp.
North Employees Village
Lucena City
Dear Atty. Pamfilo:
This refers to your letter of 04 June 1998 requesting for opinion on the legal status of a pasture land devoted to cattle raising covered by an Order of Deferment.
As gathered from your letter, San Andres Realty Development Corporation owned two (2) adjacent parcels of land situated at Brgy. Mangero, San Andres, Quezon, respectively covered by TCT Nos. T-160527 and T-160528 (Registry of Deeds of Quezon Province) with a combined area of 612.3886 hectares; that on June 15, 1988, the Department of Agrarian Reform, thru Regional Director Wilfredo B. Leano, issued an Order of Deferment in favor of the corporation whereby compulsory coverage of the 200 hectares was deferred for ten (10)years, or until June 15, 1998, in view of the fact that said area is devoted to commercial cattle raising; that carpable portions of the two parcels of land were already subdivided and distributed to qualified farmer-beneficiaries; that the cattle-raising venture and the presence of 200 heads of cattle in the deferred area was confirmed and reiterated in the letter dated March 23, 1990 of the Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer of San Andres, Quezon to the President of the Corporation; that as the deferred area is undisputably devoted to commercial cattle-raising, in the light of the judicial pronouncement in the Luz Farms case that inclusion of private agricultural land devoted to commercial livestock in the definition of "commercial farms" is invalid, it is the Corporation's respectful submission that from thereon the deferred area ceased to be within the operational coverage of R.A. No. 6657 and the same should be considered as excluded from the CARP.
You believe that since the period of deferment of the deferred area lapses on June 16, 1998; it is therefore legally permissible for the Corporation to continue operating and maintaining its commercial cattle-raising venture in the deferred area even after the expiration of the term of deferment in the light of the doctrine in the Luz Farms case which was promulgated subsequent to the issuance of the Order of Deferment.
We wish to state, at the outset, that all agricultural lands devoted to livestock, poultry and swine raising are not automatically deemed excluded from CARP coverage. In order to qualify for exclusion, there are requirements that must be met, to wit:
1. The land or portions thereof must have been exclusively, directly and actually used for livestock, poultry and swine raising as of 15 June 1988; and
2. The farm devoted to the above purposes must satisfy the animal/land ratio, as well as animal/infrastructure ratio as provided for in Section III-B of DAR Administrative Order No. 9, Series of 1993 entitled, "Rules and Regulations Governing the Exclusion of Agricultural Lands Used for Livestock, Poultry and Swine Raising from the Coverage of CARP".
In view of the foregoing, an application for exemption/exclusion must first be filed and the same shall be adjudicated on the merits thereof pursuant to the provisions of DAR Administrative Order No. 9, Series of 1993.
Thank your for communicating with us and we hope to have enlightened you on the matter.
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) DANILO T. LARA
Undersecretary for Legal Affairs, and Policy and Planning