April 4, 1997

DAR OPINION NO. 36-97

    MEMORANDUM

    FOR             :     Director Eugenio Bernardo
                                                 DAR Region IV
                                                Capitol Compound, Pasig City

    SUBJECT    :     VOS WITHDRAWAL OF ANTONIO VELASCO, et al., for landholdings situated at Concepcion, Sariaya, Quezon

This refers to the withdrawal of the Voluntary Offer to Sell filed by Mr. Antonio Velasco, et al., dated 8 June 1992, on the ground that DAR issued Administrative Order No. 5, Series of 1992 which provides for the withdrawal of the VOS if the portion subject of the VOS withdrawal is part of the landowner's retained area of not more than five (5) hectares and provided no payment has been made to the offeror/landowner. The request was, however, denied by Regional Director Percival C. Dalugdug since Notice of Valuation has already been served to the landowners on 5 May 1991 and trust account has already been opened in the name by the LBP.

It is submitted that the VOS withdrawal by the landowners under A.O. No. 5, Series of 1992 is impressed with merit. When the landowner in this case signified their desire to withdraw their VOS of subject lands thru their "MANIFESTATION AND MOTION" dated June 8, 1992 filed before the DARAB, Region IV, Capitol Compound, Pasig City, there was no valid payment yet made to them pursuant to the Supreme Court Decision and Resolution promulgated on October 6, 1995 and July 5, 1996, respectively, in the cases of LBP vs. CA, Pedro Yap, et al., G.R. No. 118712 and DAR vs. CA, Pedro Yap, et al., G.R. No. 118745 because the opening of a trust fund account in favor of Mr. Antonio Velasco covered by T-217354 per DAR request dated July 8, 1991 as certified to by Mr. Manuel B. Mendoza, Manager, LBP, Land Valuation Office IV, Lucena City in his Certification dated July 29, 1992 is not in accordance with the said Decision and Resolution of the Supreme Court in the abovementioned cases. Therefore, since there was still no valid payment made to the landowners when they decided to withdraw their VOS, then they should be allowed to do so pursuant to A.O. No. 5, Series of 1992 considering that there are several landowners of the subject lands consisting of 28.0012 hectares and their shares on these lands will just be a part of their retained area of not more than five (5) hectares.

In view thereof, you are hereby instructed to resolve the Petition for Withdrawal of VOS in accordance with the foregoing opinion. Returned herewith are the complete records.

(SGD.) ARTEMIO A. ADASA, JR.

Undersecretary for Legal Affairs, and Policy and Planning