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MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) Food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC) assured the Sumilao farmers of ownership over 144 hectares of disputed land in Bukidnon over the Holy Week break and has agreed to return the property to them, the farmers’ lawyer said Saturday.
While the negotiating parties still have to finalize the details of the out-of-court settlement, the farmers’ legal counsel, Arlene Bag-ao, said in an interview that the parties have already agreed on the basic principle that the disputed land will be returned to the farmers soon.
“They still have to finalize the agreement. It’s not yet finished. They will still have to talk about the mode of transfer. Pero maliwanag na sa amin na ang lupa ay ibabalik na sa Sumilao farmers (But it is already clear to us that the land will be returned to the farmers),” said Bag-ao.
The negotiating parties were tight-lipped on the terms of the settlement after agreeing not to speak about it ahead of the planned joint statement on Tuesday.
In an interview on Saturday, Rene Peñas, one of the Sumilao farmers, said only that the agreement was still being drafted and had yet to be signed by the parties.
Bag-ao also added that the farmers had already submitted their proposals on how to effect the return of the land.
Negotiations with SMC will resume on Monday when the parties will come out with a document spelling out the terms of the agreement, the lawyer said.
The negotiations will still have to flesh out the mode of transfer of the land to the Sumilao farmers, and will clarify what will be done to SMC’s construction activities at the piggery now in place on the Bukidnon property.
It will be recalled that while Malacañang had already restored the 144-hectare land to the government’s land reform program by reclassifying it to agricultural land from an agro-industrial land in a December 2007 order, it failed to provide an explicit cease and desist order to stop SMC’s ongoing construction on the site.
Two appeals also questioned the reclassification of the land.
SMC filed an appeal with the Office of the President as current owners of the land, while the Quisumbing family, the former owners, also filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court saying that their warranties for selling the land to SMC were affected by the land grant.
Such “loopholes” in the Palace order brought the Sumilao farmers back to Manila earlier this month to do a “Jericho March” around Malacañang to demand for their immediate installation as owners of the Bukidnon property.
During the march, Bag-ao said Palace and SMC officials asked the farmers not to push through with the action as they would expedite negotiations. The farmers were only able to complete three days of their Jericho March.
The Sumilao farmers are scheduled to celebrate their victory in a thanksgiving Mass coinciding with the Easter celebrations at the Ateneo de Manila on Sunday.
The thanksgiving Mass, however, said Bag-ao, will be a low-key one as the Sumilao farmers will be joined by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales in another thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday at the Nazarene Catholic School in Manila, following the signing of the agreement.
The Philippines Daily Inquirer tried unsuccessfully to reach San Miguel Corp. officials for their reaction to the Bag-ao’s claim.
Text messages to SMC president Ramon Ang went unanswered, while corporate communications officer Jane Llanes-Francisco told the Inquirer that the company's lawyers responsible for the Sumilao case could not be contacted as of press time.
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