SC: Comply with referral mechanisms in agrarian disputes

The Supreme Court (SC) has reminded lawyers, judges, and litigants to comply with the procedures in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law and its implementing rules.

"These have been issued to precisely avoid unnecessary and prolonged litigation," the SC Third Division said in a 20-page decision.

"Compliance with the mandatory referral mechanism becomes even more imperative in criminal cases because a person's liberty is at stake," it added.

The high court issued the remark as it granted a petition for review filed by tenant Roberto Bacar and acquitted him and Michael Mercado, also a tenant, of qualified theft.

In 2008, Bacar and Mercado filed a petition against landowner Vicente Tan for the reinstatement of their tenancy status before the Office of the Provincial Adjudicator of the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB).

They were then charged before a regional trial court (RTC) for taking away copra from the coconut plantation owned by Tan.

In 2011, the Office of the Provincial Adjudicator declared Bacar and Mercado tenants de jure of the landholdings owned by Tan, which they used as a basis to file their motions to quash the information against them.

The RTC, however, denied their motions, ruling that the criminal cases did not pertain to the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) or agrarian dispute.

They then filed separate petitions before the Court of Appeals (CA), which resulted in the CA dismissing Bacar's petitions. It granted Mercado's petition and ordered the RTC to refer the case to the Office of the Provincial Adjudicator.

This prompted both of them to file the present petition before the Supreme Court.

In acquitting them, the Court ruled that referring the case to DAR would be redundant and would serve no further purpose.

"[A] referral to the DAR in this case would unnecessarily prolong the litigation, especially when all submissions before this Court are sufficient for the Court to proceed and resolve the case," it said.

The SC said that DARAB's finding that both are tenants de jure are supported and based on substantial evidence.

"Such findings of the DARAB deserve respect and are binding upon this Court because, as borne by the records, these findings are supported and based on substantial evidence," it said.

"More compellingly, it appears that the DARAB decision, which contains such findings, had already attained finality," it added.

It echoed a previous ruling and stated that Mercado and Bacar have legitimate authority to harvest in Tan's landholdings. — VDV, GMA Integrated News