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First Posted on Inside Mindanao (www.insidemindanao.com) on May 13, 2010

Remembering the promise of San Miguel Corp. to the Sumilao farmers
By Atty. Arlene "Kaka" Bag–ao

Brief background
When the government began implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in the late 1980s, the 144–hectare Higaonon ancestral land, which had come under the ownership of Norberto Quisumbing thru the Norberto Quisumbing Sr. Management and Development Corporation (NQSRMDC), was covered for distribution to 137 Higaonon farmers. Bukidnon's provincial board, allegedly influenced by Quisumbing, passed a resolution converting the said agricultural land into agro–industrial, even though under the law, conversion was unavailable because the land was prime agricultural in character.

In 1997, the farmers staged a 28–day hunger strike in Manila and Cagayan de Oro to press their claim on the land. Then President Fidel V. Ramos issued a "Win–Win Resolution," awarding 100 hectares of the contested land to the farmers and 44 hectares to Quisumbing. The latter went to the Supreme Court, which invalidated the compromise agreement on legal technicalities. But because the property remained an agricultural land after five years, the farmers made another claim and invoked the CARP provision stating that any property under land conversion should be developed within 5 years.

The land was subsequently sold to San Miguel Corporation (SMC) which began building a piggery complex on the property. Ostensibly due to public pressure, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo revoked the conversion order on the land, making it available once more for agrarian reform. However, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) was slow to install the farmer–beneficiaries on the land.

In 2007, 55 Sumilao farmers walked 1,700 kilometers from Bukidnon to Manila to enforce their rights over the land. Their two–month walk, called "Walk for Justice," attracted wide media attention and overwhelming support from NGOs and different members of civil society and forced SMC to negotiate with the farmers for a compromise.

Updates on the compromise agreement
On March 29, 2008, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed between the Sumilao farmers, SMC, DAR, and the Office of the President. Representing the Church, which had been instrumental in negotiating the compromise, was Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales who served as witness to the agreement.

In the MOA, SMC—represented by no less than its president Ramon Ang—pledged to give a total of 144 hectares of land to the farmers. SMC promised to release 50 hectares of its property and committed to acquire the remaining 94 hectares outside the disputed estate for distribution to the farmers.

After the signing of the MOA, the farmers returned home and began to cultivate the 50 hectares of land covered in the agreement. Thereafter, numerous meetings were held between the Sumilao farmers, SMC, and DAR to discuss and follow up on the implementation of the MOA. SMC and DAR promised several times to acquire the remaining 94 hectares and award the land titles to the farmers, however, these deadlines were not met. The farmers complain that these delays are due to the actions of SMC and DAR, which are not in accordance with the agreement.

In September 2008, the farmers decided to accept DAR's offer of 94 hectares of land, even if said properties were located a considerable distance, 10 to 15 kilometers away, from their home in San Vicente, Sumilao. DAR had warned that if they did not accept the offer, the lands would be conveyed to other farmer–beneficiaries. Hence, the farmers felt they had no other option but to accept the offer.

On November 24, 2009, the farmers were once again disappointed because although there was already a Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) covering 15 of the 94 hectares to be awarded to them, DAR said that the CLOA for the remaining 79 hectares could not yet be processed because the department was still waiting for the certification from the Land Registration Authority (LRA) in Manila and that this process was taking a long time.

Frustrated by the slow pace of the MOA implementation, the farmers decided to camp in front of the San Miguel Hog Farm on February 8, 2010 in order to protest the delays in the awarding and distribution of the land. On that day, and in the presence of SMC legal counsel Atty. Fred Peñaflor, DAR Regional Director Felix Agujob promised the farmers that they would be installed in their lands on or before March 29, 2010, the date of the second anniversary of the MOA signing.

March 29 came but the promised titles failed to materialize. A dialogue was scheduled on that day between the parties concerned, however, Atty. Peñaflor failed to appear. It was only on April 16, 2010, or more than two years after the signing of the MOA, that the farmers received the first batch of titles.

During the awarding ceremony held near the San Miguel Hog Farm in Sumilao, Bukidnon, San Miguel Foods, Inc. President Francis Alejo III turned over the title covering the 50 hectares within the 144–hectare contested property, while DAR Regional Director Aguhob awarded the CLOA covering a total of 15 hectares outside the disputed land. Bishop Honesto Pacana, Sumilao Mayor Mary Ann Baula, SMC legal counsel Atty. Peñaflor, and Sumilao legal counsel Atty. Arlene "Kaka" Bag–ao witnessed the event.

Immediately afterwards, the farmers went to the 15–hectare land in Sitio Larok, Barangay Kisolon, Sumilao, which is more than 12 kilometers away from their homes in Barangay San Vicente. The farmers, however, were shocked and dismayed to learn that their land was not only leased to another corporation, Del Monte Philippines, Inc. (DMPI), but was also planted with the latter's pineapples. Feeling angry and cheated, the farmers uprooted the pineapples with the help of a tractor. They tilled the land and began to plant cassava.

DMPI thru its legal counsel has threatened to file a case against the farmers for destroying Del Monte's crops. Napoleon "Yoyong" Merida Jr., Chairperson of the PANAW–Sumilao Mapalad Multipurpose Cooperative (PANAW–Sumilao MPC) and paralegal for the Sumilao farmers, has welcomed any legal action from DMPI, and he reiterated the Sumilao farmers' position that they had the right to do what they did because they owned the land.

Gross violation of the MOA
According to Merida, the implementation of the MOA is marred not only by administrative delays, but also by gross violations on the part of SMC and DAR.

The lands offered by San Miguel Corporation to the farmers are subject of legal disputes. One such example is the 15 hectares covered by the CLOA issued to the farmers. Said property was originally owned by the family of Sumilao Mayor Baula and is currently leased to DMPI. The Baula family then sold this land to SMC, which in turn gave the properties to DAR for awarding and distribution to the farmers.

This constitutes gross violation of the MOA on the part of SMC, which expressly guaranteed that all of the 144 hectares to be awarded to the farmers would be clean and free from any encumbrance. SMC is responsible and it cannot hide behind the excuse that it lacked knowledge of the subsisting lease agreement because it is the buyer of the property. Knowing that the land is being leased and is part of the Del Monte plantation, SMC should not have offered this land to DAR for distribution to the farmers.

More importantly, the MOA stipulated that the 94 hectares that will be offered by San Miguel will be in the same condition as the original 94 hectares that the Sumilao farmers claimed. When the farmers walked for more than 1,700 kilometers from Bukidnon to Malacanang in Manila, they left the 144 hectares barren, without any crops planted because they have been prevented since 1997 when they were forcefully evicted from their ancestral land by Norberto Quisumbing. It is only expected that the offered 94 hectares will be in the same condition, no contests, no claimants, no encumbrances, not leased to Del Monte and not planted with three–month's old pineapple. After two years since the signing of the agreement in 2008, San Miguel is already liable for damages incurred by the Sumilao farmers for not being able to cultivate the 94 hectares including loss of expected income.

Together with the numerous delays which have plagued the implementation of the MOA, this incident shows that SMC is not really serious or sincere in fulfilling its commitments. SMC's actions betray its claim of good faith and compliance. It cannot wash its hands and point the finger at DAR or DMPI because its lack of diligence exhibits bad faith in dealing with the farmers.

DAR is not without fault as well. It has promised many times that the farmers would receive the titles to their lands. Administrative delays, however, continue to hound the processing of the titles. To this date, more than two years after the signing of the MOA, 79 of the 144 hectares promised to the farmers still remain without a CLOA.

DAR should also not have accepted SMC's offer to give the 15–hectare land to the farmers when said land is covered under a lease agreement. As Merida put it, it would be a "fake" CLOA issued by DAR to the farmers, if the latter cannot do what they, as rightful owners and beneficiaries of the land, are entitled to under the law.

Sumilao farmers face suit
For asserting their right of ownership over the 15 hectares of land, the Sumilao farmers are now facing a possible suit from yet another corporation, Del Monte Philippines, Inc.

The CLOA covering the 15 hectares was registered on October 8, 2009; the title bore no indication of any encumbrance. During the ocular inspection conducted in November 2009, there were no pineapples on the subject property. DMPI planted the pineapples sometime in January 2010, or after the CLOA was registered in favor of the farmers.

The dispute could have been avoided and the farmers peaceably installed in their land if only DMPI respected the farmer's rights and desisted from planting the pineapples. DMPI is charged with knowledge of the CLOA because its registration happened prior to the planting of the pineapples. The Sumilao farmers have every right as lawful owners to remove the said crops on their land and replace them with their own.

Remembering Ka Rene
SMC and DAR have once more promised to install the Sumilao farmers to their land by June 5, 2010, exactly one year after the death of renowned leader and paralegal of the Sumilao farmers Ka Rene Peñas, who in 2007 led the group in their 1,700–kilometer walk from Bukidnon to Manila to demand the return of their ancestral land. Ka Rene was assassinated on June 5, 2009, on his way home to his farm in Sumilao, Bukidnon after the successful enactment of the CARP Extension with Reforms (CARPER).

The Sumilao farmers have declared that if SMC and DAR fail to honor their commitments under the MOA, the farmers will consider such failure a denial of justice and an affront to the sacrifice of Ka Rene. If their demand is not honored, the farmers would claim back their original 144 hectares of land in regardless of SMC's promises.

END