Monday, April 20, 2015

Titunod farmers struggle for security of land tenure continues

Titunod farmers and some members of KILOS KA-Lanao outside the new office of the
DAR-Provincial Office in Palao, Iligan City
ILIGAN CITY-April 16, 2015; Gina Belos of KILOS KA-Lanao, together with her fellow
tenants from Titunod, Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte, had a successful dialogue to
Mr. Jamil P. Amatonding, Jr the the new Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer
(PARO) of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Lanao del Norte.
The conversation focused on the recent development in the DAR operations with
regards to issuance of Notice of Coverage (NOC), erroneous technical description of
the tenanted land, and the Titunod farmers land rental custody.
It was then found out that the land they are fighting for was not yet visible in the
new database system of DAR called OpTool, which serves as the agencys
centralized repository of land tenure improvement data. Without the landholding
present in the said database, the land cannot be issued an NOC.
Farmers on dilemma
Several years ago, the said tenanted land was foreclosed to the Bank of the
Philippine Islands (BPI)-Ozamis. However, after acquiring a deed of sale, the Muslim
Diversified Agriculture (MDA), Inc. claimed the ownership of the land to which the
tenant farmers pay land rentals based on the leasehold contract entered upon by
the farmers and the MDA management.
When the leasehold contract expired, MDA management drafted a new one with
changes on the rental arrangement. When the farmers saw it, they felt that they
are in a disadvantaged position with the new arrangements thus refused to sign. As
a result, since March 2013, the MDA management rejected the rents of the farmers
as the new leasehold contract has not yet taken into effect.
Afraid of being evicted from their tenanted land, the tenants seek advice from the
authority where to deposit their land rentals. As far as they remembered, the
previous advice of the PARO, DAR constituents, and the Land Bank of the Philippines
was to put the money tentatively to DAR Treasurers Office since the tenants were
not allowed to open a bank account bringing the name of the landowner.
However, when PARO Amatonding learned about the status quo, he deeply invokes
the tenants to take back the money, or transfer it to a bank a legitimate account to
make it safer. He discouraged the idea of retaining the money in their office
because there was no memorandum given specifically for this matter so they dont
have the right to hold a stock unless it is the governments fund. Also, he is afraid of
a possible complication that may occur.

Apparently, the tenants assumed that by the moment they hold the rental money
into themselves, the presumed landowner may file a case against them by telling
they never had remitted the rentals; that risk they dont want to gamble.
The old dilemma went back again i.e. to where will they be able to place their
money for third-party safekeeping.
Standing still
The tenants, however, do not want to simply sit back and wait for the central office
to process the inclusion of their landholding in the OPTool database. They agreed to
lobby this matter to the authorities to make the process faster.
Lastly, the PARO suggested that they can negotiate an arrangement with the
account-opening problem with the manager of the bank (BPI) whose institution is
still the bearer of the title of the tenanted land. And while waiting for the NOC to be
released, the unclosed polygon might as well be edited under due process of law to
be initiated by the landowner themselves.
-----------------------*by Jamel Ann Caylan
BS Development Communication
Mindanao State University
Marawi City
Ipinaskil ni Kilos Ka sa 9:20 AM 0 (mga) puna
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Mga etiketa: BPI, MDA, NOC, OpTool, tenants, Titunod Farmers