BY AMADO MACASAET
[ Malaya.com.ph ] March 24, 2009
The 1,500 hectare piece of land near Sapang Palay in San Jose del Monte in Bulacan was originally owned by a large family with different surnames.
Through various sales and transfers, the area has shrunk to 34 hectares but is still owned by dozens of names like Reyes, De Guzman, and Santiago.
The government-owned Peoples’ Homesite and Housing Corp., bought the biggest portion of 750 hectares. The rest was sold to Newtown Housing of the late Vicente G. Puyat and Moldex, a large construction firm.
All told, only 34 hectares were left to the original 134 owners.
Some years back, the Department of Agrarian Reform ruled that the remaining 34 hectares be retained by the various owners.
Divided equally among the owners or heirs, the average area would be less than two hectares each.
If the law allows landowners to retain at least five hectares for themselves, the retained area should have been much bigger considering that the remaining 34 hectares are owned by more than 50 heirs or owners.
For this reason alone, the Reyes family argued that the area should not be covered by land reform as the areas left to them are much smaller than what the law allows.
In late 2008, the DAR issued an emancipation patent declaring the land as covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. This effectively nullified an earlier ruling that the 34 hectares were to be retained by the various owners.
Worse, the DAR assessed the area at 41 centavos per square meter. Thus, the 34 hectares, equivalent to 340,000 sq. m. would cost the government only P139,400 and supposedly in Land Bank bonds that mature in 20 years.
There were earlier reports that only 10 percent of the area is tillable. The rest is practically rock and sand.
There are about 600 squatter families in the area, excluding the commercial establishments and homes sitting on the 2-kilometer frontage. They are said to be paying rent but not to the Reyes family who went to Malaya Business Insight to denounce what they believe is pure land grabbing by the government.
The Reyes couple cannot stop wondering why the DAR should subject to CARP a piece of property earlier declared as retained by the owners. The couple told Business Insight that their lack of connection or political clout is making all the "land-grabbing possible."
They sought the help of Sen. Edgardo Angara who wrote the DAR to say that the area "is not suitable for rice and corn cultivation…"
His pleas fell on deaf ears.
The Reyeses wondered aloud how the 34 hectares, of which 30 hectares are not suitable for commercial or any kind of crops is to be subdivided among the owners or 600 households.
They explained that the tillable area of 10 percent of the land is planted to kangkong and other fast-growing vegetables.
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