[ manilastandardtoday.com ] February 7-8, 2009
Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza said the repossession by the government of parcels of land encroached by the Zobel-Ayala family in Calatagan, Batangas, is in progress even as he assured farmers and fishermen of continued assistance by creating a desk that will attend to their needs and problems.
“We have already completed the survey of the areas as required of us by the Supreme Court and submitted the survey results to the court. It is now up to the court to nullify the land titles that were found to have covered portions of the public land,” Atienza said, adding that the areas up for repossession by the government covered 1,769 hectares.
Atienza said that President Arroyo has ordered him to provide all the necessary support to speed up the repossession by the government.
The President’s directive is to implement the Supreme Court decision, provide all support to the court to hasten the repossession process, and protect the interest of the poor families of Calatagan, Atienza said.
In the meantime, the environment chief urged the farmers and fishermen who attended the recent dialog at the department’s office in Quezon City to refrain from making any move yet. Atienza said the survey conducted by his department was affirmed by the high court in its 12-page decision issued on Oct. 6, 2008, citing the survey’s finality and that “it should not be regarded as an opening for another round of litigation on the issues definitively settled a long time ago.” The Environment Department submitted its survey report to the Regional Trial Court-Branch 11 of Balayan, Batangas, on Sept. 30, 2008.
“This should end our 40-year legal battle on this issue,” Atienza said.
On learning that some of the Calatagan families were already facing eviction cases filed by people who had bought the parcels of the contested land, Atienza volunteered the services of department lawyers to defend the displaced families. “Our lawyers will now intervene in any ejection proceedings in court involving the claimants.”
Lawyer Dominique Misa, the groups’ legal counsel, expressed hope that the department would finally be able to award the lands being occupied by her clients while the agency is under Atienza’s watch whom she described as having shown signs of the needed political will to advance the interest of her clients.
“We have been pursuing this way back in the ’90s and it is only now that we have seen such interest from a DENR secretary to end this injustice done against those who have rightful claims over the land,” Misa said, adding that some of whom are already in the second and third generations.
The areas covered by the Supreme Court order falls part of a 12,000-hectare estate owned by the Ayalas. It used to be a sugarcane plantation that had been exempted from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
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