A POSITION PAPER ON THE SUMILAO FARMERS’ STRUGGLE FOR ACCESS

TO THEIR LAND

Revoke the Conversion Order! Redistribute the Land under CARP!

Reform and Extend the Agrarian Reform Program! Rationalize Land Use!
The Higaonon Indigenous Cultural Communities were the early settlers of a piece of
ancestral land in Sumilao, Bukidnon. A portion thereof, 243.885 hectare area of the
ancestral land served as the Seat of Government of the Higaonons where the traditional
paghusay and pamuhat were conducted by the Higaonon tribal council lead by Apo
Manuagay Anlicao and Apo Mangganiahon Anlicao. The ancestral land is a flat
agricultural terrain situated in the midst of Mt. Sayawan and Mt. Palaopao, and where
Mt. Kitanglad can be seen from afar. It was once termed as pinetreehon by the visitors
due to the abundance of pine trees all over the place and its cold temperature.
Magbabaya gave this balaang yuta to the Higaonon communities. It was their
forefathers’.
Then the Angeles came in 1930s forcibly evicting the Higaonons from their ancestral
land and converted the land into a cattle ranch. Later, the land was transferred to the
Ilagans. In 1970s, the ancestral land was divided between 2 landowners: 99.885
hectares to Salvador Carlos while the 144 hectares was transferred to Norberto
Quisumbing. The ancestral land was eventually leased to Del Monte Philippines, Inc.
(DMPI) for 10 years. At this time, the Higaonons became farmworkers of the land they
once owned.
With the advent of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law in 1988, the 144 ancestral
land was covered for distribution to 137 Mapadayonong Panaghiusa sa mga Lumad
Alang sa Damlag (MAPALAD) farmers, all of Higaonon lineage. Certificate of Land
Ownership Award (CLOA) was subsequently issued in their names making them the
owners of the 144 ancestral land. For the first time in several years, the MAPALAD
farmers regained their ancestral land. What followed next was a controversial legal
battle which sparked national interest involving the sad state of agrarian reform in the
country.
In an apparent move to circumvent agrarian reform, Quisumbing applied for conversion
of the land from agricultural to agro-industrial before the DAR notwithstanding the fact
that prime agricultural lands are non-negotiable for conversion. Quisumbing proudly
proposed the establishment of a Development Academy of Mindanao, cultural center,
Institute for Livelihood Science, museum, library, golf course, and Mindanao Sports
Development Complex, Bukidnon Agro-Industrial Park, Forest Development and
Support Facilities including the construction of a 360-room hotel, restaurant and housing
projects, among others.
Further, Quisumbing connived with the LGUs of Sumilao and Province of Bukidnon
where the latter illegally passed Resolution No. 24 and Resolution No. 94-95,
respectively, allowing the conversion of the land despite the fact that LGUs have no
power of conversion under the law as the same belongs to the DAR Secretary.
The DAR Secretary denied the application because of its patent invalidity. On appeal to
the Office of the President, Executive Secretary Ruben Torres issued the infamous
Torres Resolution approving the application for conversion despite its illegality.
Left of no more recourse, the MAPALAD farmers decided to do the only non-violent and
peaceful means their forefathers taught them during unpeaceful times – a Hunger
Strike. For 28 days, the MAPALAD farmers ate nothing but water in front of the DAR
Office in the cities of Quezon and Cagayan de Oro. Their peaceful protest caught the
interest of the public: Cardinal Sin, including presidential wannabees Erap, Renato De
Villa, and several senatoriables, LGUs and the House of Representatives.
Due to huge public pressure, President Ramos issued the so-called “Win-win
Resolution” wherein 100 hectares were to be given to the farmers while 44 hectares to
Quisumbing. It was a pleasant victory for the MAPALAD farmers and the whole peasant
sector. However, their victory was short-lived.
Quisumbing was infuriated with the decision and brought the same before the Supreme
Court. MAPALAD, as farmer beneficiaries of the 144, intervened in the case and raised
novel questions such as the validity of conversion of prime agricultural lands which are
supposedly non-negotiable for conversion, the power of reclassification of LGUs vis-à-
vis DAR’s authority to approve conversions, and the validity of the comprehensive
agrarian reform law itself.
Unexpectedly, the Supreme Court evaded the resolution of the substantial issues of the
case and found one perfect excuse: reglementary periods. The Supreme Court refused
to answer the constitutional issues and asserted that the DAR failed to question the
Torres Resolution on time. The Supreme Court skirted merits and yielded to
technicalities. The questionable Torres Resolution was reinstated while the “Win-win
Resolution” was invalidated. Worst, it denied MAPALAD’s intervention by equivocally
saying they were merely “recommendee farmer beneficiaries”, hence, have no real
interest over the land. MAPALAD’s dream of regaining their ancestral land vanished in
seconds. They lost to numbers.
That was in 1999.
Several years have passed since then yet the 144 hectare land remains idle. Not one of
those proposed by Quisumbing ever materialized. The “promises” of economic vitality,
employment and increase in income, leaves much to be desired as everything was a
“castle in the air”. Apparently, the Quisumbings have successfully fooled the MAPALAD
farmers and the peasant sector, local government units, national government, Supreme
Court, and the Filipino people in general, by such empty “promises” of development in
order to circumvent the coverage of the 144 hectare ancestral land and evade the
implementation of genuine agrarian reform in the country.
In 2002, the Quisumbings have once more fooled the MAPALAD farmers by selling the
144 hectare ancestral land to San Miguel Foods, Inc. (SMFI), the biggest conglomerate
in the country owned by Danding Cojuangco. SMFI plans to put up a piggery farm on
the 144 hectare ancestral land knowing fully that such transaction is a violation of the
conversion order as it substantially changed its use.
Hence, the Sumilao farmers lead by 78 MAPALAD farmers together with 90 members of
the San Vicente Landless Farmers Association (SALFA) filed a Petition for the
Cancellation of the Conversion Order against Quisumbing and/or SMFI before the DAR.
The Sumilao farmers maintain that more than 5 years have passed since the
Conversion Order yet they failed to initiate any development work on the land. Further,
SMFI has grossly violated the conditions of the Conversion Order by changing its use to
hog farm. Both actions were made in violation of DAR Administrative Orders 1 and 2,
Series of 1990 and other pertinent laws on conversion.
Petition pending before the Office of the President
The Sumilao farmers raised the petition for cancellation of the Conversion Order directly
before the Office of the President since it is unable to obtain a favorable response from
the DAR Secretary. The Sumilao farmers maintained that the DAR Secretary has
exclusive jurisdiction over the petition, and that the DAR should have ordered the
cancellation of the Conversion Order because of the violations.
Granting, however, that the Office of the President is the proper office to determine the
petition, the more reason that it should immediately cancel the Conversion Order it
previously approved since Quisumbing and/or SMFI has grossly violated the conditions
thereof. Its willful defiance of the Conversion Order has already been affirmed by the
DAR Secretary in its order, hence, the immediate cancellation thereof.
For certain, the cancellation of the Conversion Order will bring light and abundance not
only to the present families of the Sumilao farmers but as well as their future generation
who really deserved to have a piece of land of their own.
If the land was previously awarded to the Sumilao farmers, it would have been
productive and earning income by now. Quisumbing in a sense was ironically right in his
bias that distributing the land to the farmers does not guarantee such benefits because
no benefits actually redounded to anyone. None to the farmers, none to the
communities, none to the local government units, none to the government. All that was
attained was the circumvention if not a sheer mockery of agrarian reform laws and
agrarian law implementers to evade coverage from CARP.
Expiration of CARP in 2008
Notably, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is about to expire in
2008, yet, the fruits of agrarian reform remain to be seen, or to put it squarely, now
belongs to Cojuangco and his hogs.
The government has reported an accomplishment of a seemingly impressive 6.4 million
hectares – or 79.4% of the target CARP
scope of 8.1 million hectares from 1972 to 2005. However, the figures were computed in
such a way as to deceive the true situation of agrarian reform in the country. The
“accomplishments” include lands with registered CLOAs but these have not been turned
over to tenants. There is double counting where collective CLOAs and the individual
CLOAs are both tallied. In the most brazen cases, there are CLOA holders who still do
not occupy the lands.
On top of that, the government’s original target scope of 10.3 million hectares in 1988
was severely reduced in 1996 to 8.1 million hectares to accommodate large-scale
exemptions and massive land conversions. More than 5.3 million hectares of land were
exempted outright from CARP in 1996. The reductions in the scope of public land in turn
accommodated vast tracts of government land leased or otherwise controlled by big
landlords as cattle ranches, export crop plantations and logging concessions. Taken as
a whole, there are more than 10.2 million marginal farmers, tenants and farm workers,
70% of whom are still landless even at the
closing stages of CARP.
The recent moves of President Arroyo show that Congress may not likely give CARP
another extension: CARP has been lumped with other asset reform programs of the
government such as urban land and ancestral domain instead of the usual separate
chapter in the recent Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP); the target
for land acquisition and distribution (LAD) of private agricultural lands has been reduced
to only 100,000 hectares per year; and the legal moves by Congress to stop CARP, to
wit, exemptions of big prawn farms, fish ponds and aquaculture areas from CARP
coverage, foreign investors’ leasing of private lands for up to 75 years, and the
proposed 25-year moratorium on CARP implementation in the Mindanao region. This
clearly indicates the Arroyo administration’s total abandonment of the Constitutional
mandate on agrarian reform as provided in Section 4, Article XII of the Constitution.
The struggle of the Sumilao farmers will be brought to naught unless the agrarian
reform program will be extended beyond 2008 and a genuine implementation of land
acquisition and distribution (LAD) shall be had.
No Clear Land Use Policy
Corollary to the issue on the “expiration” of the CARP in 2008, the government seems to
have no clear land use policy that ensures that agricultural lands are protected or
exempted from conversion into other uses. The problem on massive land conversion is
a serious problem for the government to deal with, especially with a growing population,
perennial problem of food security and threat to the ecology.
As of the moment, the government has not come up with a national land use policy that
it could effectively implement and consequently results in land disputes. Farmers are
complaining that their lands are being converted to industrial plants and subdivisions
while land developers and landowners insist that such lands are no longer fit for
agricultural production. The weaknesses in land use policy, administration and
management, inconsistent land policies, inefficient land administration infrastructure, a
highly politicized land tax system, an inefficient agrarian reform and housing
development programs are affecting the efficiency of land markets, and thus the
country’s economic growth potential and equity.
In the case of the 144 hectare land, the same was illegally reclassified by the LGU of
Sumilao to an agro-industrial property contrary to policy issuances prohibiting
reclassification of prime agricultural lands, and in contravention of the power of
conversion of the DAR Secretary. Unless and until a proper land use policy shall be
enacted by Congress, the problem on massive conversions of agricultural land will
pursue.
At real issue of the case is the right of the Sumilao farmers to regain their long lost
ancestral land. The Sumilao farmers have been robbed of their land by unscrupulous
landlords and transformed their ancestral land into cattle ranches, pineapple plantations
and now, piggery farms – the very same land which the Higaonons perform their sacred
rituals and prayer offerings.
Notably, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law is about to end in 2008. Yet, the
fruits thereof remain to be seen, or to put it squarely, now belongs to Cojuangco and his
hogs.
The 144 hectare ancestral land remains fertile though. Its rich soil awaits cultivation. Mt.
Sayawan and Mt. Palaopao still protects the land from unwanted weather conditions
and Culaman River runs through the land giving it water from beneath. In the end, the
Higaonon ancestors foresee the final “resting” of their ancestral land.
In summary, the Sumilao farmers call the attention of Bukidnon Provincial Agrarian
Reform Officer Julio Celestiano, DAR Regional Director John Maruhom, DAR Secretary
Nasser Pangandaman and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through Executive
Secretary Eduardo Ermita, and demand the following:
1. Restore the dignity of the Sumilao farmers!
2. Revoke the Conversion Order!
3. Reclaim the land!
4. Reform and extend CARP!
5. Recognize the need for a National Land Use Law!
The Sumilao Farmers