Sumilao land case battle shifts to SC

The former landowner of the controversial Sumilao estate in Bukidnon on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to restrain Malacañang from implementing an order issued last December revoking the conversion of the contested property from agricultural to agro-industrial. In a 50-page petition for certiorari, the Norberto Quisumbing Sr. Management and Development Corp. (NQSRMDC), which previously owned the 144-hectare lot in San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon, before selling it to San Miguel Foods Inc, asked the high court to declare null and void the December 18, 2007 Order of the executive department. According to lawyer Froilan Bacungan, the public respondents Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman committed grave abuse of discretion in granting the petition of the Sumilao farmers to revoke the conversion of the property considering that the SC already ruled with finality that they have no legal, actual and substantial interest in the estate. The assailed order, said Bacungan, was just a "political decision" that violated the corporation's right to due process and equal protection under the Constitution. "The alarming haste in which the Order was issued, combined with the highly publicized actions and statements of the Office of the President which clearly show not just a mere tendency but an open bias in favor of the so-called Sumilao farmers has left the NQSRMDC no other recourse but to come the Highest Court of the land to protect its rights," petitioner said. The case made headlines this month after members of the Sumilao farmers' group, also called the Mapadayonong Panaghiusa Sa Mga Lumad Alang sa Damlag (MAPALAD), reached Manila after a 60-day protest march they started on November 17, 2007 from their village in Sumilao to present their appeal to the President herself. According to the petitioner, the order "unlawfully impaired the warranties" covering its sale of the property to the SMFI on February 2, 2002. In the sale of the land to SMFI, NQSRMDC said it bound itself to several specific warranties and undertakings, which include, among others, the warranty that all existing cases filed by the Sumilao farmers involving the property have been dismissed with finality and that the SMFI shall have a free hand in determining and implementing whatever development plans it may have on the property. In their deed of absolute sale, the petitioner said, it assured that the property is free from all liens and any encumbrances and is not occupied by other persons or parties. The President's decision to cancel the conversion order, the NSQRMDC said, opens them to suits by SMFI. Prior to their 60-day march, the Sumilao farmers filed a petition to the Office of the President seeking to revoke the conversion order covering the property, with a plea for the issuance of a cease of desist order, before the office of the DAR secretary. The Mapalad farmers claimed that more than five years have elapsed since the issuance of the conversion authority and that no industrial development has yet been completed in the area. In an order dated October 27, 2006, Pangandaman dismissed the farmers’ petition "for want of jurisdiction." A month after, the DAR issued an opinion confirming that SMFI's project being implemented in the property is consistent with the authorized agro-industrial use under the OP conversion order. On October 3, 2007, the OP dismissed the appeal due to the Mapalad farmers' lack of legal standing, being "merely recommendee farmer beneficiaries," their "interest over the land in question is a mere expectancy" and "they are not real parties in interest." Pangandaman has been quoted to have said that the DAR will start identifying the qualified beneficiaries for the 144 hectares of land and said the directive of the President was to come out with a "win-win solution" to address the issue. - GMANews.TV