DAR issues status quo order on disputed Sumilao property

The Department of Agrarian Reform on Thursday directed San Miguel Food Inc. (SMFI) to halt further development activities in the contested 144-hectare property in Sumilao, Bukidnon, pending the resolution of the dispute with farmers who claim ownership on the property. Agrarian Reform Sec. Nasser Pangandaman issued a status quo order over the disputed property pending the resolution of the Sumilao farmers’ claim to the property, which prevents SMFI to continue with its development of the property into a hog farm. However, the order does not prevent SMFI from continuing the construction of facilities that are presently underway. In a two-page order, Pangandman ordered SMFI “to refrain from further undertaking development activities other than those presently ongoing" in the controversial 144-hectare farmland it bought from the Quisumbing family. The DAR chief, in the same order, also asked some 150 Higaonon farmers “to respect ownership and possession" by SMFI of the disputed property, while the team he formed to look into the controversy is deliberating on the case. Pangandaman said his order is meant to keep the two contending parties from carrying out any activity that is deemed prejudicial to either side. “With the issuance of this order, we hope that the two contending parties would sit down and try to reach a mutually beneficial resolution," Pangandaman said. “We are looking at the so-called win-win solution to this matter. Again, I’d like to repeat that this case has just been remanded to us. We’ll try to rectify the failure or build on the foundation set by the previous leadership in DAR," he also said. On Wednesday, Pangandaman’s predecessors, former secretaries Florencio Abad, Ernesto Garilao and Jose Mari Ponce, expressed support to the farmers’ cause. The farmers – who walked 1,700 kilometers from Bukidnon to Manila to call the government ‘s attention to their plight – claimed that the conversion order for the 144-hectare property should be rescinded after the Quisumbings failed to comply with the conditions set in the order. - GMANews.TV