CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, March 3, 2011—A group of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)
beneficiaries are urging the intervention of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to ease the tension in the disputed 111-hectare estate after the forcible and “illegal” enforcement of a Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB) order to demolish structures in the land resulted to three agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) going missing.
The Palalan CARP Farmers Multi-purpose Cooperative (PCFMPC), headed by Andrew Donggay and Fernando “Datu Dalangpanan” Bermoy, said DAR’s intervention will ease the tension in the estate located just at the back of the Lumbia Airport. Bermoy, a Higaonon, is leader of the Lumbia Tribal Association, a member of the PCFMPC.
The three farmer-ARBs, sons of 50-year-old Sansin Manatad, were reported missing on February 19 up to the present after the Lino Sajol and lawyer Elmer dela Rosa (Sajol-Dela Rosa) faction of the PCFMPC, together with armed men, forcibly entered the estate and demolished the structures there and manhandled some of the members of the Donggay-Bermoy faction of the PCFMPC.
Manatad said he thought his sons Risan, 27; Juniper, 25; and Marjun, 23, only went to take refuge at their mother’s in Barangay Gango, Libona, Bukidnon but found out later that they never went there.
The three decided to leave the estate for fear of their lives because of the presence of the armed men, despite his objections, said Manatad.
Manatad had already reported the incident to the Carmen Police Station here.
Root cause of tension:
The tension started when different factions of the PCFMPC wanted to sell the estate because of the high valuation of the land. The estate is located in sitio Palalan, Barangay Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro City where just at the back of the Lumbia Airport where agriculture, settlement and commercial lands are located.
What motivated these factions to sell the land was their fear of losing the case filed by the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) before the Regional Trial Court and DARAB in Misamis Oriental in 1995 to cancel the Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA), which the DAR granted to the agrarian ARBs on September 8, 1992. The PVB was the original owner of the estate.
Members of this faction led by Sajol waived their rights to lawyer Dela Rosa for some monetary consideration. The Sajol-Dela Rosa faction then sold the estate to Diana Biron, wife of Iloilo Rep. Ferjenel Biron, for P30 million on August 7, 2009.
Thirteen years (13) later or in 2008, RTC Branch 41 in Cagayan de Oro dismissed the PVB case. The DARAB in Misamis Oriental also dismissed the PVB case to cancel the CLOA.
Then PCFMPC chairperson Beverly Domo’s faction in the PCFMPC was not in favor of the move of some ARBs to waive their rights, so she filed a case before the RTC Branch 24 in Cagayan de Oro for an injunction on the waiving of rights in favor of the Sajol-Dela Rosa group over the estate.
While the case is still pending before RTC 24, Domo’s group together with their lawyer Florencio Narido Jr. (Domo-Narido faction) later on sold the estate to Joseph Tilap of Mt. Carmel Engineering Services for P250 million (at a price of P250 per square meter) in the name of the PCFMPC. This sale, however, has yet to be consummated.
The Donggay-Bermoy faction said Domo “misrepresented” the PCFMPC in selling the estate to Tilap.
Because of this, Domo was stripped of her chairmanship of PCFMPC in January 2010. She was subsequently expelled from the cooperative during the general assembly on March 27, 2010. Donggay was elected chairperson to replace Domo.
The Cooperative Development Authority in Northern Mindanao (CDA-10) acknowledged Donggay as the duly elected chair of the PCFMPC.
Although they already were granted a CLOA over the estate, the ARBs who are members of the PCFMPC have no individual titles to the land as the estate has not yet been subdivided among them. However, there is already a parcellary plan assigning lots to the 67 original ARBs.
Donggay, while not an original ARB, obtained rights to the estate after several other ARBs sold their rights to him.
Learning of this, Domo filed a case before DARAB-MisOr to annul this sale of their rights to Donggay, while the Donggay-Bermoy faction also filed a case of annulment of the sale of the estate by the Sajol-Dela Rosa
faction to Biron before RTC Branch 17.
Last January 17, DARAB-MisOr ruled in favor of the Domo-Narido faction. Adjudicator Charlito Sabuga-a ordered the Donggay-Bermoy faction to “demolish whatever structure they introduced in the subject area at their own expense, otherwise, a writ of demolition will be issued.”
The Donggay-Bermoy faction filed a motion for reconsideration on the same day the ruling was handed down.
Illegal demolition:
But last February 15, the Domo-Narido faction, with some armed men, forcibly entered the estate, demolished the structures of the Donggay-Bermoy faction there and drove the occupants away on the strength of the DARAB order.
But the DARAB ruling of January 17 did not include a writ of demolition.
Narido, however, said the DARAB order became self-executory after the lapse of the reglamentary period for the filing of the Motion for Reconsideration.
“Even in their haste to get lucrative deals over the land, the Narido-Domo group should observe the rule of law and respect that the DARAB order is not self-executory and that status quo should be observed while our
meritorious motion for reconsideration is being tackled,” said lawyer Ilya Kristin Ravanera, legal counsel of the Donggay-Bermoy group.
“It is clear that in order to execute the decision of the Darab, a writ of demolition has to be issued first,” she added.
But the Donggay-Bermoy group expressed fear over the ongoing conflict over the land following the forcible entry of the Domo-Narido group and its armed men. Thus, they called on the DAR to intervene and ease the tension now prevailing there.
Leaders of the Domo-Narido faction, however, said they have nothing to do with the three missing ARBs.
TRO:
Last Wednesday (March 2), the RTC Branch 17 issued a temporary restraining order in favor of the Donggay-Bermoy faction against the Domo-Narido faction as well as the Sajol-Dela Rosa faction.
Judge Florencia Sealana-Abbu said that the harassment suffered by the members of the Donggay-Bermoy faction at the hands of the armed men of the Domo-Narido faction is material invasion of the rights of the complainants.
“The continuing acts of the respondent (defendant) Domo in intimidating or committing acts of harassment against the members of the cooperative is material invasion of their rights while the case of annulment of sale is pending before this Court,” Abbu said in her two-page decision promulgated on March 1.
“Wherefore, a Temporary Restraining Order is hereby issued commanding and/or enjoining respondent Beverly Domo or any person acting for and in her behalf to cease and desist from performing any act that will tantamount to harassment against members of the cooperative with the end in view of compelling them to sell their property or to be driven out from the CARP-awarded piece of land,” she added.
The TRO stemmed from the urgent motion of the Donggay-Bermoy faction for the court to restrain Domo, Dela Rosa and Biron from intimidating and harassing the PCFMPC members who opposed to the sale.
Development?
Last November, Bermoy showcased the PCFMPC’s “Farm for Peace,” an organic agriculture model farm that generates an estimated income of P15,000 a month from the produce of a 2,500 square meter lot within the farm.
He told reporters then that their farm proved that even small farmers like them can help institute peace by being very productive. “If farmers are productive and have food on their table, there will be peace,” he explained.
During that time, PCFMPC’s purely organic “Farm for Peace” grew 36 kinds of vegetables and 50 different herbs. They also have a Robusta coffee nursery that supply planting materials for Nestle’s coffee farms, and a 40-hectare mango orchard and some cashew trees.
Bermoy’s group, produced their own organic fertilizer, had proven then that PCFMPC’s “Farm for Peace” is very financially viable.
But lately, Bermoy, an expert agricultural technician, said that the conflict over the PCFMPC’s 111-hectate estate caused by some members of the cooperative who formed their own factions will put all their hard work to make the farm self-sustaining and financially viable to waste.
The Higaonon ARB leader was referring to the Domo-Narido faction as well as to the Sajol-Dela Rosa faction who sold the estate for development purposes.
Lawyer Narido explained that his faction decided to sell the estate so that investors will develop the land because as an agricultural land, it has not seen any development since it was awarded to the PCFMPC.
But the Donggay-Bermoy faction accused the Domo-Narido faction of “greed” as the main motive in the sale of the land by the Domo-Narido faction. (Bong D. Fabe)
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