Return Sumilao estate to farmers, urge 2 bishops
By Jerome Aning, Dennis Jay Santos, Ryan Rosauro
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 04:15:00 01/14/2008
Filed Under: Agrarian Reform, Churches (organisations), Legal issues
MANILA, Philippines -- Two Catholic Church prelates who visited on Friday the 144-hectare land being claimed by farmers in Sumilao, Bukidnon, said despite the hog farm being constructed on the disputed property, the land should be returned to its rightful owners, the farmers.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, head of the Church Task Force on Sumilao, and Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, SJ, also held a dialogue with the farmers, assuring them of continuing Church support.
After a Mass with the farmers held just outside the fenced property in Barangay San Vicente, Sumilao, the two bishops entered the place, which is owned by San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI).
Pabillo said the land remains a prime agricultural land and is suitable for agriculture and food production, he said.
Pabillo is also chair of the National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. He was named to head the Sumilao case task group by Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, who once served in Bukidnon and is a supporter of the farmers.
Test case
Ledesma, executive chair of the central committee of the multi-sectoral National Rural Congress, said the Sumilao issue is a test case for the NRC, which is an initiative of the Catholic Church to reach out to the rural poor.
“The law is clearly on the side of the Sumilao farmers and any resolution to the case should have the welfare of the farmers as the major consideration. The Church will continue to support the Sumilao farmers until they finally get what is justly theirs,” Ledesma said.
Pabillo and Ledesma, accompanied by Malaybalay Bishop Honesto Pacana, SJ, later brought representatives of the farmers to visit Gov. Jose Zubiri in the provincial capital to follow up on the latter’s promise to stop the construction of the piggery as soon as the revocation order was issued.
Last Dec. 18, Malacañang revoked the original conversion order for the property that would have transformed it into an agro-industrial park. The land thus reverted into agricultural use but the Department of Agrarian Reform delayed placing the property under land reform because it was still waiting for the notice of finality of the Malacañang order.
Some of the farmers have been taking turns picketing the DAR regional office in Cagayan de Oro City since Jan. 3 to press for speedy government action.
Long battle
Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said that if SMFI will file a motion for reconsideration on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s revocation of the land conversion order, the case is feared to drag on for a long time.
“If San Miguel files a case (motion for reconsideration), then it will drag on,” Pangandaman told reporters here on Saturday night.
Pangandaman added that it would even be longer if it reached the Court of Appeals.
Pangandaman said the directive of the President was to come out with a “win-win solution” to address the issue.
The SMFI was given 15 days to appeal the order of the President. Pangandaman said the company officially received the letter on Jan. 2, which means it has until Jan. 17 to file the motion for reconsideration.
He added that the DAR office has received a letter from SMFI acknowledging that it has received the order.
But while the order was not yet final, Pangandaman appealed to the farmer’s understanding that the steps they took in granting their petition would take time and proper procedure.
“I am appealing to the Sumilao farmers to observe due process,” he said.
But he also said their finding shows that SMFI committed a violation when it started developing a piggery farm in the contested land.
“There is no mention of a hog farm,” he said of the condition.
Pangandaman revealed that the SMFI is now looking for other land areas, adjacent to the 144 hectares that it plans to develop.
He said the DAR office will also start identifying the qualified beneficiaries for the 144 hectares of land.
Meanwhile, the Sumilao farmers have reservations at SMFI’s offer of relocating to another piece of land in exchange for the disputed estate.
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