What lands are covered by CARP? - G.R. No. 161796

G.R. No. 161796

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Several basic premises should be made clear at the outset. Immediately prior to the promulgation of PD 27 in October 1972, the 1,645-hectare Doronilla property, or a large portion of it, was indisputably agricultural, some parts devoted to rice and/or corn production tilled by Doronilla’s tenants. Doronilla, in fact, provided concerned government agencies with a list of seventy-nine (79)[30] names he considered bona fide“planters” of his land. These planters, who may reasonably be considered tenant-farmers, had purposely, so it seems, organized themselves into Samahang Nayon(s) so that the DAR could start processing their applications under the PD 27 OLT program. CLTs were eventually generated covering 73 hectares, with about 75 CLTs actually distributed to the tenant-beneficiaries. However, upon the issuance of Proclamation 1637, “all activities related to the OLT were stopped.”[31]

The discontinuance of the OLT processing was obviously DAR’s way of acknowledging the implication of the townsite proclamation on the agricultural classification of the Doronilla property. It ought to be emphasized, as a general proposition, however, that the former agricultural lands of Doronilla––situated as they were within areas duly set aside for townsite purposes, by virtue particularly of Proclamation 1637––were converted for residential use. By the terms of Natalia Realty, Inc., they would be exempt from land reform and, by necessarily corollary, beyond DAR’s or DARAB’s jurisdictional reach. Excerpts from Natalia Realty, Inc.:

We now determine whether such lands are covered by the CARL. Section 4 of R.A. 6657 provides that the CARL shall “cover, regardless of tenurial arrangement and commodity produced, all public and private agricultural lands.” As to what constitutes “agricultural land,” it is referred to as “land devoted to agricultural activity as defined in this Act and not classified as mineral, forest, residential, commercial or industrial land.” The deliberations of the Constitutional Commission confirm this limitation. “Agricultural lands” are only those lands which are “arable and suitable agricultural lands” and “do not include commercial, industrial and residential lands.”

Based on the foregoing, it is clear that the undeveloped portions of the Antipolo Hills Subdivison cannot in any language be considered as ‘agricultural lands.’ These lots were intended for residential use. They ceased to be agricultural lands upon approval of their inclusion in the Lungsod Silangan Reservation. x x x

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Since the NATALIA lands were converted prior to 15, June 1988, respondent DAR is bound by such conversion. It was therefore error to include the undeveloped portions of the Antipolo Hills Subdivision within the coverage of CARL.[32] (Emphasis added; italics in the original.)

Guided by the foregoing doctrinal pronouncement, the key date to reckon, as a preliminary matter, is the precise time when Doronilla’s Lot 23, now Araneta’s property, ceased to be agricultural. This is the same crucial cut-off date for considering the existence of “private rights” of farmers, if any, to the property in question. This, in turn, means the date when Proclamation 1637 establishing LS Townsite was issued: April 18, 1977. From then on, the entire Lot 23 was, for all intents and purposes, considered residential, exempted ordinarily from land reform, albeit parts of the lot may still be actually suitable for agricultural purposes. Both the Natalia lands, as determined in Natalia Realty, Inc., and the Doronilla property are situated within the same area covered by Proclamation 1637; thus, the principles regarding the classification of the land within the Townsite stated in Natalia Realty, Inc. apply mutatis mutandis to the instant case.

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