The Department of Justice (DOJ) misinterpreted the joint venture agreement (JVA) between the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and Tagum Agricultural Development Co., the company’s president said on Monday.
Tadeco president Alex Valoria said the justice department’s findings were based on “flawed interpretations” of the Constitution and laws governing contracts and the disposition of public lands.
Moreover, the official recommendation that the agreement be amended to make it compliant with the law indicates that the justice department deems the contract to be valid.
The company president said the DOJ erroneously interpreted the agreement as a form of “disposition” even if the deal “does not involve any land to be disposed.”
“The primary purpose of the JVA is the rehabilitation of inmates inside Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPPF),” Valoria said.
The main goal of the agreement, he said, was to help rehabilitate inmates by “providing them with a decent means of livelihood while serving their sentences.”
Tadeco is engaged mainly in producing bananas for export and had wanted to use the penal farm to increase its production.
He argued that both the 1935 and 1973 Constitutions did not prohibit the government from entering into JVAs over inalienable lands like DPPF.
“In fact, under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, there is now an express provision allowing JVAs involving the exploration, development and utilization of natural resources. Natural resources include inalienable public lands like the Davao penal farm,” Valoria said.
Valoria said the Commission on Audit (COA), which claimed the deal violated the constitution because it resulted in Tadeco holding agricultural land beyond the legal limit, erroneously applied laws and constitutional provisions.
“With all due respect to the COA … the provisions they cited as bases for calling out the supposed violations committed under the Tadeco-BuCor agreement could not be applied to this case,” Valoria said.