A House leader asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to clarify the extent of the land deal between Bureau of Corrections and the Tagum Agricultural Development Co. Inc.
“It is imperative that the committees will be clarified on these aspects of the investigation to find out whether or not the government was at a disadvantageous position on the implementation of the subject of the joint venture agreement [JVA],” Rep. Johnny Pimentel, chairman of the House committee on good government and public accountability, said at a congressional hearing on the allegedly anomalous JVA contract of BuCor and Tadeco.
Pimentel said his committee and the committee on justice, headed by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, heard various claims on the land of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm. The committees uncovered that the metes and bounds of such land under the supervision and management of BuCor was disputed and even the portion of the land occupied and utilized by Tadeco is doubtful, he said.
“The committee also received different statistics on the actual gain obtained by the government from the operation of the JVA vis-a-vis what should be the accruing to the government in terms of guaranteed income and production shares from the operation of Tadeco in the Davao Penal Colony (Dapecol),” Pimentel said.
Pimentel said the House would want the documents from the DENR that would show the actual use on the occupants on the land under the supervision and management of BuCor in the Dapecol and the subject of the JVA.
Pimentel’s panel has probed into the matter after Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez filed House Resolution 867 filed to get into the nitty-gritty of the controversy.
In filing the resolution, Alvarez said the JVA contract, while guaranteeing the BuCor a share of P26.5 billion per year for P5,308.36 hectares, actually prejudices the government by as much as P106.167 million per year since the prevailing price of lease contracts in that area is P25,000 per hectare per year, according to Alvarez.
DENR regional officer lawyer Felix Alicer said the DENR has already submitted its report. But the problem, he said, pertains to the extent of the actual occupation, considering that this is so vast and situated in four municipalities.
Alicer made a slide presentation of the area to clearly show its extent and actual use.
Aggregated land area as provided in Proclamation 414 covers 28,826 hectares. The DENR found out that the land area is 30,907 hectares based on the technical description in the proclamation, Alicer said.
In his resolution, Alvarez noted several Presidential Proclamations which ceded portions of the 30,000 hectares, to wit:
1) Proclamation 103 for 10,000 hectares for the National Abaca and Other Fibers Corporation (NAFCO);
2) Proclamation 127 dated April 30, 1949 and Proclamation No. 127;
3) Executive Order 372 covering 2,500 hectares and 2,005 hectares;
4) August 1995, Kapalong Public Land Subdivision or PLS 70, approved in 1956, that disposed areas A and D which were given to NARRA for settlement;
5) September 3, 1956, Proclamation No. 341 issued by President Ramon Magsaysay, who ceded at first 10,000 hectares and later 2,139 hectares followed by several Proclamations which gave portion of the land to the administration of DENR, DAR, PADCO and NAFCO.
A total land area of 8,948 hectares remains with the BuCor of which 5,348.79 is subject of the JVA between BuCor and TADECO, the resolution stated.
The timberland portion covers an area of 4,839 hectares, wherein the following areas were also ceded: 1,149 (BuCor) hectares; 1,830 and 1, 675 hectares (DAR). The actual compound of DAPECOL comprises 98 hectares, it added.
Pimentel expressed hope that this would be the last hearing to be conducted before the committees render a report.
“But there are still some documents that we are requesting that we have not yet received. So we can wrap up all the hearings and make the committee report,” he said.
In the previous hearing, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended the following: 1) Revocation or rescission of the JVA by the President of the Philippines pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 1585. 2) For DOJ to instruct BuCor to file the appropriate action in court for the declaration of nullity of the JVA, and 3) Call for a Presidential Proclamation reclassifying the DPPF as alienable and disposable land so that any convenience on the land maybe legally entered into by BuCor after the conduct of a public bidding as required by law.
