Bid to convert Arroyo farm breach of CARP — Nene 06/28/2010

Bid to convert Arroyo farm breach of CARP — Nene

06/28/2010 Another midnight move of the outgoing First Couple, this time involving the conversion of Hacienda Bacan in Isabela, Negros Occidental owned by the family of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo into an industrial estate was criticized as a travesty of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) which Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. said will inflict an injustice on the estate’s tenant-farmers. Pimentel urged agrarian reform authorities to reject the conversion since the l57-hectare sugar plantation has been placed under CARP since 2001 and a P42.3 million payment was ready for release by the Land Bank of the Philippines to the owners two years ago prior to its distribution to qualified beneficiaries. “If the coverage of Hacienda Bacan under CARP will be revoked, what is the use of the CARP law? This is patently unfair to the farmers who are entitled to acquire ownership of the estate under the law,” he said. The ownership of the property has been transferred by the First Gentleman and his brother, Negros Occidental Ignacio Arroyo, to a corporate entity called Rivulet Agro-Industrial Corp. Acting on behalf of Rivulet, lawyer Ruy Rondain reportedly filed with the DAR on June l5 an application for the land conversion of Hacienda Bacan. The step was taken despite the fact that Land Bank in November, 2008 had already issued a certificate of deposit in favor of Rivulet as payment for the plantation. Likewise, the DAR had twice ordered the Negros Occidental register of deeds to issue a new title for the hacienda in favor of the government. But the provincial register of deeds has defied the order, obviously due to pressure from the Arroyos. “Things like this leaves a bad taste in the mouth because people suspect that power play came into the picture to frustrate the intention of the law,” Pimentel said. The opposition leader from Mindanao said the plan of the owners of Hacienda Bacan to convert it into an industrial estate cannot proceed without violating the CARP law.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100628hed6.html

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