Farmers of Arroyo estate finally get land titles

After almost a decade of legal battle, farmer-beneficiaries of Hacienda Bacan, previously owned by the family of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, have finally got what they wanted. In a press statement released on Tuesday, Task Force Mapalad, a national federation of farmers, said the Registry of Deeds of Negros Occidental had finally put the vast estate in the name of its 68 farmer-beneficiaries. After two years of prodding, Registry of Deeds head Romulo Gonzaga registered on October 26 the new title, Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) No. 00916859, covering 148 hectares of the hacienda’s total 157 hectares. The farmer-beneficiaries only learned of the re-titling of the hacienda Monday. The property, located at Barangay Guintubhan in Isabela, Negros Occidental, was placed under coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in 2001. The government acquired the property in July 2008 after the Land Bank issued payment of over P142 million in the name of Rivulet Agro-Industrial Corporation, the registered corporate owner of the hacienda. Gonzaga reportedly had previously defied repeated orders by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and calls by the farmer-beneficiaries to register a new title allegedly because of pressure from Arroyo. Surprised Jose Charito Celis, a leader of the farmer-beneficiaries, said that although they had been asking for it, they were still surprised when they learned that their CLOA had been registered. “We have been camped out in front of DAR in Quezon City for a month now, and we have been urging the LRA (Land Registration Authority) to do something. Suddenly our CLOA is registered. We are surprised, because we did not expect Atty. Gonzaga himself to do it. Probably the new LRA leadership has something to do with it. In that case we are very grateful," said Celis. He said they would ask DAR for their immediate installation in the awarded property. “We do not know how Mr. Arroyo and Rivulet Corporation will react to this. Our fight is not yet over. We still have to actually take possession of our land. We hope that Mr. Arroyo and the people working for him will not resist," he said. "Shocking" Arroyo’s brother, Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, denounced the decision of the Registry of Deeds. “It’s shocking how this government confiscates property without due process of law. You said that the supposed beneficiaries were given CLOA. How is that possible when the property has not yet been transferred to the Republic of the Philippines?" he said in a text message. “The DAR has again made a mockery of our existing laws by bullying landowners. Shame on the DAR. Shame on this government. They have no respect for the law," he added. Rep. Arroyo, who is out of the country, said that according to Ruy Rondain, lawyer of Rivulet Agro, the case is still being litigated in the Supreme Court. - KBK, GMANews.TV