land for the landless

Palace restores Sumilao land to agricultural use

‘From here on, we’re with you’--Bunye to farmers

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- Malacañang on Tuesday revoked a conversion order on a disputed 144-hectare property in Sumilao, Bukidnon, paving the way for the return of the land to the ownership of farmers who marched 1,700 kilometers for two months from Mindanao to Metro Manila to dramatize their demand.

The order, signed by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, was personally delivered at around 1:30 p.m. by Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye to the 55 members of the Higaonon tribe who had camped out at the College of the Holy Spirit in Mendiola since Monday, when their representatives met with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Malacañang.

The farmers had been awarded the land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) but then executive secretary Ruben Torres had approved the property’s conversion into agro-industrial use, sparking the years-long agrarian conflict that grabbed the limelight recently when the farmers embarked on their long march.

“Simula ngayon, asahan niyo na saan man makarating ang kaso na ito, ay kasama niyo na kami kahit sa korte [From now on, rest assured that wherever this case reaches, you will have us with you, even in court],” Bunye told the farmers after handing over the order.

The order said Arroyo “agrees with the findings and recommendations” of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to cancel the conversion order for the property, once owned by the Quisumbing family but since sold to San Miguel Foods Inc., which planned to convert it into a hog farm.

“Wherefore premises considered and as recommended by DAR, the petition for cancellation and/or revocation of the conversion order covering 144 hectares of land…is hereby granted,” the Palace order said.

The DAR recommendation, also dated December 18, said the “unilateral development of the landholding into a hog farm” by San Miguel Foods violated the original conversion order for the land because it “is not one of the purposes for which the conversion had been issued.”

“This clearly deviates from and constitutes a violation of the conversion order issued to” the development corporation set up by the Quisumbings, the DAR said.

Earlier in the day, chief presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol, who first confirmed that the order would be issued, said the land would still be subjected to a “process” before it can be finally distributed to the farmers.

Apostol was among the officials who drafted the decision.

Marlon Manuel, one of the farmers’ lawyers, also said earlier that the decision would mean San Miguel Foods will be treated as a landowner and will need to be paid the current value of the property before the land can be distributed to the farmers.

Originally posted at 11:22am