Agrarian reform beneficiaries facing eviction in Nasugbu, Batangas lamented yesterday what they claimed was the refusal of the Department of Agrarian Reform to talk to them.

They said they were losing hope that the motion for reconsideration they filed challenging their transfer to a mountainous area without power and water would even be entertained by the DAR.

“It’s too gloomy, the atmosphere here in Barangay Aga. All of us are very worried, whether they’d give due course to our measure,” community leader Amie Balanon said.

“The DAR doesn’t even want to talk to us,” added Balanon who, like the other ARBs, holds a Certificate of Land Ownership Award, or CLOA.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III had said that the consolidated order he issued last 29 December covering three haciendas formerly owned by Roxas and Company Inc. was final and executory.

Estrella said the ARBs, represented by lawyer Mario Cerro, failed to file a motion for reconsideration within the reglementary period reckoned from the 11 January 2024 receipt of the consolidated order.

“We don’t know whether we are still waiting for something because according to the DAR we missed the deadline. All the residents are so bothered, especially the senior citizens. We cannot sleep anymore,” Balanon said.

He said that Nasugbu Mayor Antonio Jose Barcelon had urged the ARBs to follow the DAR order when he went to Barangays Aga and Banilad last week.

“The question for us is how was the DAR able to decide without consulting us. And there’s no order from the Supreme Court for us to vacate the land where we live,” Balanon said.

He wondered what happened to the letter of Senator Bong Revilla on their behalf.

Tillers to get CLOAs?

DAR Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Napoleon Galit said that with the DAR order, approximately 1,300 farmers in Nasugbu are set to receive CLOAs within the next three months.

“The farmers will also enjoy the benefits of additional landholdings from government-owned lands. The town of Nasugbu stands to benefit, as this initiative addresses the longstanding issue of unidentifiable owners responsible for the real estate taxes,” Galit said in a statement on Friday.

DAILY TRIBUNE tried to get the reactions of Estrella and Galit to the motion for reconsideration filed by the farmers but they did not respond to our calls and text messages.

Last week, Galit reiterated that the DAR’s Consolidated Order was a win for the farmers, based on the Supreme Court decision dated 17 December 1999 favoring the landowner. The SC ruled that the Notice of Coverage issued by DAR was illegal.

“The decision subsequently rendered the CLOA issued by the DAR to the farmer’s groups invalid,” Galit said.

However, the farmers’ lawyer, Cerro, said that in the 1999 decision the Supreme Court did not declare the acts of the DAR illegal or the CLOAs invalid.

Cerro quoted from the 1999 SC decision: “We stress that the failure of respondent DAR to comply with the requisites of due process in the acquisition proceedings does not give this Court the power to nullify the CLOAs already issued to the farmer-beneficiaries. To assume the power is to short-circuit the administrative process, which has yet to run its regular course. Respondent DAR must be given the chance to correct its procedural lapses in the acquisition proceedings.”

The 2,941 hectares of disputed land in Nasugbu located in Haciendas Palico, Banilad, and Caylaway are being retaken by publicly listed Roxas & Company Inc. after decades of litigation.