BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – Juanito Saul and his family from Barangay San Jose in San Miguel, Iloilo have voiced their frustration with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) over what they described as negligence. They are holding the DAR accountable for their recent eviction and the demolition of their home.
The family claimed that DAR failed to provide assistance in formalizing their ownership of over three hectares of agricultural land, which they inherited from Saul’s father, who passed away in 1986.
Despite their long-standing occupancy and cultivation of the land, they alleged that the DAR did not help them secure proper documentation or resolve issues related to their land rights under agrarian reform laws.
On Oct. 2, 2024, the Sauls witnessed their home being demolished by armed men, following a court ruling that recognized a real estate developer as the rightful owner of the property.
The Municipal Circuit Trial Court of San Miguel had issued a final notice of demolition on July 26, 2024, and granted forcible entry to the sheriff on August 29, 2024, according to a report by Rappler.
Saul insisted that DAR-Iloilo’s inaction and lack of guidance played a significant role in their plight.
He believes that with proper assistance, the case could have been resolved without reaching this devastating outcome.
Saul emphasized that DAR should have informed them about the necessary steps, especially since he was still a minor when both of his parents died.
“The DAR should have told us to process it because it is their obligation to guide you if you do not understand,” Saul said in Hiligaynon.
DAR’s mandate includes implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which involves land tenure improvement and providing legal assistance to agrarian reform beneficiaries.
This includes helping farmers like Saul navigate the technical requirements of land ownership.
Saul’s father was awarded a Certificate of Land Title (CLT) in 1973 under Presidential Decree No. 27, a landmark agrarian reform law by former President Ferdinand Marcos that aimed to emancipate tenant farmers and transfer ownership of the land they tilled.
However, the CLT was an intermediate step in the land ownership process.
To secure full legal ownership, a CLT holder must obtain a Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) and register it with the Registry of Deeds.
Saul admitted he failed to complete this step, leaving the land’s legal status unresolved and paving the way for the property’s eventual transfer to the real estate developer.
Saul shared that the presence of armed men from the real estate developer began in 2018, significantly impacting their livelihood.
He alleged that these guards uprooted any banana plants they attempted to cultivate, leaving the family unable to make productive use of the land.
In response, Saul sought assistance from the Provincial Agrarian Reform Office (PARO) in Iloilo, where he managed to obtain a copy of the Certificate of Land Title (CLT) and an approved survey plan. He explained that he was unable to locate the original CLT after his father’s death.
However, due to their failure to renew the land title, the DAR escalated the case to a local court.
Saul argued that the dispute, being agrarian in nature, should have been resolved at the DAR level, under its mandate to handle agrarian reform concerns.
“The land is agrarian, and this issue could have been settled by DAR, not the courts,” Saul emphasized.
According to a map obtained from the Bureau of Lands, the Sauls believe they occupy Lot 2-A, rather than Lot 2-B or Lot 1236, which were identified in the court ruling and are owned by Communities Iloilo Inc.
The real estate developer purchased Lot 2-B (90,188 square meters) and Lot 1236 (2,262 square meters) on April 27, 2007.
In an urgent motion filed on August 12, 2024, Saul requested the court to halt the demolition until the lots’ exact boundaries were verified.
However, the court denied the motion, asserting there was no ambiguity and that both Lot 2-B and Lot 1236 were subject to the ruling.
The court emphasized that Lot 1236 was a retention area of the original landowners and that the Certificate of Land Title (CLT) issued to Saul’s father had been canceled by the Ministry of Agrarian Reform in June 1986.
Displacement and Trauma
The demolition has forced the Saul family to take refuge at his in-laws’ house, located just 50 meters from their former home. Saul expressed deep emotional distress over losing their ancestral home.
“It breaks me to see our home being demolished. We were born there, and it’s incredibly painful to be treated like animals and thrown out in a day, and there’s nothing we can do about it,” Saul said.
The family remains apprehensive about retrieving their belongings due to the armed guards who now fence off the property./PN
