The dreaded demolition that residents of several barangays in Nasugbu, Batangas fear will not happen with the snap of a finger, the Department of Agrarian Reform clarified, as every land dispute undergoes a battery of mediation processes.

“A ‘parcelization’ given to individual farmers, which had not been done since 1991, will take place first. Even if the Consolidated Order is final and executory, DAR and Roxas and Company Inc. will still have to undergo a mediation process. That will not immediately be demolished, that’s not true,” DAR Legal Affairs Office and Undersecretary Napoleon Galit told DAILY TRIBUNE in an interview.

He said parcelization takes years, followed by mediation.

Galit maintained that the 50-50 division of three haciendas of Palico, Banilad and Caylaway, based on the Consolidated Order signed by Secretary Conrado Estrella, is a win-win solution for both farmers and the claimant Roxas and Company Inc.

The undersecretary earlier said that in a pivotal 1999 Supreme Court case, the SC decisively declared the nullity of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program coverage over the cited Nasugbu lands.

He said that based on DAR records, most of the agrarian reform beneficiaries or ARBs who received CLOAs for their agriculture land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program sold their land during the 10-year restrictive period, which is foul under the law.

“They (ARBs) sold the valid CLOAs within 10-year restrictive period, based on our records. They sold it during the 1990s and we have the records to show this. And if we will disqualify them, maybe all of them will be disqualified. But since we cannot do that, since they are already there, then we will just shut our eyes to any violation,” Galit said.

Despite this, Galit clarified that 1,365 affected farmers or agrarian reform beneficiaries who will not receive new CLOAs will be placed in “home lots.”

How about the CLOA buyers?

As for the buyers of the CLOAs, he said the DAR will still honor their land titles and reconcile their arrangements with the ARBs who sold their land to them.

“When we did the ocular inspection, about 10 hectares of land are now home to resorts and other establishments. But we can reconcile and we will put them under negotiation. It’s on a case-to-case basis. They will undergo mediation with the DAR and Roxas and Company,” Galit said.

Rights to retention

Attached to the Consolidated Order of Estrella was a map showing that Roxas and Company will reacquire the majority of Hacienda Caylaway, to which Barangay Aga with more than 8,000 residents belongs.

Asked why the hacienda was awarded to RCI, Galit said that under the CARP Law, previous owners had the right to choose what property they wanted to be repossessed.

“Under Republic Act 6657, Roxas and Company, being the previous owner, is given the right of retention with preference of choice. Secondly, on the practical side, Caylaway has only just over 150 farmers. More farmers were given CLOAs in haciendas Palico and Banilad,” he said.

On Friday, residents of Barangay Aga said they were in despair after receiving reports that they will be relocated to an undeveloped and populated barangay in Nasugbu, forcing them to ask President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to a halt the DAR order that ruled on a 50-50 compromise with the publicly listed RCI.