Marcelita Ramos, Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer (MARO) of Dasmariñas, said the DAR has approved the exemption of 1,109.721 hectares and the conversion of 63.8146 hectares in their municipality from 1990 to 2007.

Statistics from the DAR’s Center for Land Use Policy, Planning and Implementation (CLUPPI) shows that 2,439.4748 hectares in Cavite have been approved for exemption, while 5,647.3643 hectares have been approved for conversion as of December 2007.
CLUPPI identified Central Luzon (covering the provinces of Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales) and Calabarzon (covering the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) as the two regions with the most number of hectares exempted from the agrarian reform program.

In these regions, according to CLUPPI records, 22,900.3421 hectares of agricultural lands have been exempted from CARP coverage by virtue of DOJ Opinion No. 44.

The two regions’ proximity to Metro Manila explains the large tracts of land exempted from CARP, said lawyer Ma. Liza Resurreccion, CLUPPI secretariat head. The lands have been converted to either residential or commercial use because the two regions are host to special economic zones, low and medium cost subdivisions, and major highways.

Agrarian reform lawyer Jobert Pahilga, however, said that actual use of the land is not given much weight in land reclassification and this often leads to controversy and legal conflict. Landholdings actually used for agricultural purposes are excluded from CARP coverage simply because they have been reclassified prior to the effectivity of the agrarian reform law, he said.

Higher Value

Menguito admits that commercial and residential properties are more profitable compared to agricultural lands.
Thelma de Leon, assistant assessor in Cavite, said that, from 2006 to 2007, the highly urbanized municipalities of Dasmariñas and General Trias had the highest revenues in terms of assessed land value. The municipality of General Aguinaldo had the lowest assessed land value.

In 1997, the lowest market value of land in Dasmariñas stood at P205/sq.m. while the highest was at P1,000/ sq.m., as compared to the municipality of General Aguinaldo, where the lowest value only stood at P60/sq. m. while the highest was only P205/sq.m.

In 2000, the lowest market value of land in Dasmariñas stood at P255/sq. m. while the highest was at P1,500/sq. m., as compared to General Aguinaldo, where the lowest value per square meter only stood at P65, while the highest was only P210/sq. m.

Farmers lose Cases

Expectedly, farmers who are occupying and tilling the lands reject the lands’ exclusions from CARP coverage.
Section 16 of DAR Administrative Order No. 1 Series of 2002 (Comprehensive Rules on Land Use Conversion) provides that persons affected by the land conversion may file a written protest against the application.

Agrarian lawyer Annalyn Dolor Jubillo, former Agrarian Reform Officer II in Cavite and Trial Attorney 5 in the province of Quezon, however, said that most of the cases involving reclassification have been decided in favor of the landowners. “In fact, in all the cases that I’ve handled, the farmers lost,” she said in an interview.

Jubillo worked for DAR for 14 years since 1989.

 Save as PDF