Apply no conversion rule on Arroyo farms

April 19, 2008

The Arroyo clan of First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo was accused of being among the biggest violators of the government’s land distribution program and Negros Occidental farmers are now challenging President Arroyo to apply the ban on the conversion of prime agricultural lands on the Arroyo haciendas.

Farmers of the Arroyo haciendas arrived at the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) office the other day to petition the government to stop the Arroyos from converting the 157-hectare Hacienda Bacan in Barangay Guintubhan in Isabela, Negros Occidental.

The Arroyos formed a company, Rivulet Agro Industrial Corp., to assume ownership of Hacienda Bacan. Rivulet Agro subsequently applied for the conversion of the hacienda into an agro-industrial estate.

Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, the President’s brother-in-law, is spearheading the land conversion of Hacienda Bacan. Iggy Arroyo is one of the officers of Rivulet Agro.

Hacienda Bacan, which is owned by the First Gentleman, was placed under CARP coverage in 1996 through compulsory acquisition.

In 2001, following Mrs. Arroyo’s announcement that she would distribute the Arroyo lands, Iggy Arroyo applied for CARP coverage under voluntary offer to sell (VOS) on the hacienda.

State-owned Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank), however, refused to process the hacienda’s claim under the CARP scheme saying Iggy had no authority to apply for a VOS on the property since Mike Arroyo was the actual landowner.

DAR had said it asked the First Gentleman to issue a letter of intent for the VOS, but to date no such letter had been issued.

The DAR last Thursday, on order of Mrs. Arroyo, imposed an indefinite ban on the “the unabated conversion of prime agricultural lands for real estate development.”

Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said Mrs. Arroyo had ordered a review of the guidelines governing farmland conversion.

Jose Rodito Angeles, president of the peasant group Task Force Mapalad which is picketing the DAR over the Arroyo estates, said the farmers are now challenging Mrs. Arroyo to apply the recent policy on the Arroyo farmlands and stop its conversion process.

“Unless President Arroyo was issuing a statement meant only for public consumption, she should ask her brother-in-law to stop conversion of the hacienda and have it distributed to the 67 farmer-petitioners who had been selected and validated as legitimate beneficiaries,” Angeles said.

The farmers said that aside from Hacienda Bacan, the Arroyos also own vast tract of land in two other haciendas that the clan is preventing from being covered by CARP.

Angeles said Mrs. Arroyo should intervene in the distribution of the 197-hectare Hacienda Grande in Barangay Robles, La Castellana and the 60-hectare Hacienda Paraiso in La Carlota City.

Angeles said the Arroyos had subdivided Hacienda Grande into 42 titles in the name of 27 corporations, seven individuals, a foundation, and a homeowners’ association.

A notice of coverage has been issued on Hacienda Paraiso but the Arroyos had filed a protest against it, and the case had long been pending at the DAR, Angeles said.

“The plan to put up an ethanol plant in Hacienda Bacan has not been scrapped (despite Mrs. Arroyo’s no conversion order),” Angeles said.

He said the conversion directly contradicts the moratorium in land conversion because of the rice crisis and the spiraling prices of food commodities.

According to a study conducted by the Philippine Rice Research Institute, land conversion from 2003 to 2007 caused the country to lose 34,200 tons of rice that would have been produced by the converted farmlands. Over the five years, 9,000 hectares of farmlands on the average were converted annually.

The study said the trend was to turn the farmlands into factories, housing subdivisions, or shopping malls.

Angeles, who is among the potential land beneficiary in Hacienda Grande, said farmers will not give up on their petition for distribution of Arroyo lands as promised by Mrs. Arroyo herself.

“We will go on hunger strike again if we have to, but I hope we won’t have to do it this time if the President will make good her promise,” he said.

Task Force Mapalad earlier accused Iggy Arroyo of leading a drive among Negros legislators to stop the extension of the CARP, the law for which expires this year.

“It is common knowledge in Negros Occidental that Iggy was a prominent figure in the formation of the group called Concerned Landowners of Negros precisely to prevent CARP’s extension,” Angeles said.

The landowners’ group is lobbying for a review of CARP before any move is entertained to extend it.

“Iggy has at least one big reason to oppose CARP. He plans to build an ethanol plant in Hacienda Bacan, owned by the First Gentleman. The hacienda is subject to coverage by CARP, and he wants to prevent its distribution,” Angeles said.

Angeles said extending CARP beyond 2008 would benefit 6 million Negrenses while ending CARP would only benefit a few individuals, including Iggy and another Negros Occidental solon, Rep. Jeffrey Ferrer.

Negros Occidental has the highest land acquisition and distribution (LAD) backlog, accounting for 180,00 hectares of private agricultural land, Angeles said.

Angeles said DAR had admitted that the province has the highest LAD backlog because of resistance and political maneuvers by big landowners who are against CARP.

“The president said she wanted the remaining years of her presidency to become the legacy phase. Distribution of Hacienda Bacan could be part of that legacy,” TFM-Negros spokesperson Edna Sobrecaray.

by Chito Lozada

source: http://tribune.net.ph/headlines/20080420hed1.html

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