JURISPRUDENCE; FISHPOND LEASE AGREEMENT

Republic vs. Eno Fishpond Corp, et.al., GR No. 154475, September 30, 2005

The Secretary of Agriculture has the competence to initially determine the validity or nullity of the Deed
of Assignment executed by the Cabral Corporation in favor of Eno Corporation. It is not at all denied that
it is the Department of Agriculture through the BFAR which processes application for fishpond lease
agreements of public waters and finally grants or denies the same. When an application is contested, an
administrative case results. There is no question that the Department of Agriculture or through its agency
hears and decides the administrative case. To arrive at a verdict, all that is needed is substantial evidence
to back it up.

The office of petitioner Republic charged with the power to oversee the use of public fishponds is the
Department of Agriculture under the Administrative Code of 1987…

Unquestionably, the BFAR as an agency under the DA which directly regulates transfers of leasehold rights
over fishponds, like any other regulatory bodies of the Government, is given sufficient discretion to
approve or disapprove applications/petitions pertaining to matters falling within its sphere of authority.
However, that discretion must be confined within the parameters set forth by law. Applications for
transfer of leasehold rights should be treated by BFAR in the light of the applicants compliance with its
Fisheries Administrative Order (FAO) No. 60, section 33.

Good governance requires that actions of regulatory bodies on applications before them must be
reasonably predictable. The standards set forth in FAO No. 60 provide predictability in the action of BFAR
on a pending application for transfer of leasehold rights. Compliance with the requirements of FAO No.
60 entitles the applicant to reasonably expect the approval of his application unless some other provision
of law say otherwise. Conversely, the failure of the applicant to meet the standards set forth in FAO No.
60 does not entitle him the confidence to expect the approval of his application.

.R. No. 126828 January 30, 2002

SPS. MILLER AND ADELIE SERONDO, petitioners,

vs.
THE COURT OF APPEALS, REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, represented by the SECRETARY
OF AGRICULTURE AND THE DIRECTOR OF FISHERIES AND AQUATIC RESOURCES, AND
JOSE GULMATICO
Nor, as is equally clear, does petitioner-appellant’s claim of actual occupancy of the fishpond area
gain greater plausibility, much less licit acceptance, considering the following excerpt from the order
appealed from:

‘this Office believes that the claim of actual occupancy by petitioner (Burgas) even though
coupled with his unawareness of the conflict between his vendor (Carmen Claro) and the respondent
herein (Gulmatico), cannot prevail over the two orders of the BFAR because the vendee acquires no
better right than the vendor has.’

True, petitioner-appellant might have been unaware of the controversy between Claro and the
herein respondent-appellee when he took possession of the subject fishpond. In a very real sense,
however, petitioner-appellant had no one to blame but himself. For, as vendee of the property,
prudence should have cautioned him into verifying Claro’s right thereto before acquiring it from the
latter. Needless to state, his own negligence bars him from claiming good faith.

JURISDICTION:

BFAR has the responsibility of granting so called Fishpond Lease Agreements (FLAs) for public lands,
primarily to fisher folk cooperatives/associations. Generally, public lands “such as tidal swamps,
mangroves, marshes, foreshore lands and ponds suitable for fishery purposes” are under the jurisdiction
of DENR. The latter may declare public lands as alienable and disposable for fishpond purposes and release
them to the jurisdiction of BFAR.

The Fisheries Code expressly prohibits the conversion of mangroves into fishponds, thus effectively
limiting the fishpond area to areas that have already been developed.

DENR, in coordination with BFAR, LGUs, other concerned agencies and FARMCs, has the task to determine
which abandoned, undeveloped or underutilized fishponds covered by FLAs can be reverted to their
original mangrove state and after having made such determination must take all steps necessary to
restore such areas in their original mangrove state.