FORT RAMON MAGSAYSAY, Palayan City – The military is again insisting on its ownership of land. This time over properties awarded by the government under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL).
Imposing authority over the land, the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army under Major Gen. Ralph Villanueva, sent some 70 soldiers to fence off areas within Barrio Militar, Palayan City even as residents could not help but look on.
Col. Mermino Barrios, of the command’s judge advocate general’s office, said the land belonged to the military reservation which original size was pegged at about 73,000 hectares.
He questioned the issuance of the certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) to farmers, stressing the agrarian beneficiaries and a certain Guillermo Roque from the government purchased some 154 hectares of the properties subdivided but failed to present the original title.
The occupants said that being beneficiaries of the government land reform program, they really hold only to CLOAs and documents provided for by the Land registration Authority (LRA) as well as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Porfirio Gumboc, a beneficiary, said the LRA has actually paid the Land Bank of the Philippines an amount for their lots which they are paying in turn.
There are at least 18 farmer-beneficiaries in the area.
Lt. Col. Francis Lardizabal, 7th ID chief of operations, supervised the fencing operations which turned out to be peaceful.
The fencing, according to the military, is mandated by Presidential Proclamations 237 and 709 which delineate the army reservation and the creation of Barrio Militar.
Barrio Militar is an area where military retirees and their families settle.
The CLOAs were granted by the DENR and the Register of Deeds on January 16, 2008, it was learned. Some of the lots were named to Gumboc, Nemesio Mendoza and two others under Transfer Certificate of Title 19333.
However, the military assailed the legality of said TCT No. 19333, as Original Certificate of Title No. 10113, registered in the name of one Guillermo Roque, from which it was taken, was missing.
Barrios, told reporters that the DENR authorities, who parceled out the questioned landholdings, had not consulted with them at anytime in the matter of the grant to the supposed beneficiaries.
The title held by the claimants is “tainted with irregularity,” the action of the DARAB is without force and effect, Barrios said.
He said they are just “protecting the property allotted to us by the lawful authorities” as envisioned in the creation of the Fort Ramon Magsaysay military reservation.
Imposing authority over the land, the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army under Major Gen. Ralph Villanueva, sent some 70 soldiers to fence off areas within Barrio Militar, Palayan City even as residents could not help but look on.
Col. Mermino Barrios, of the command’s judge advocate general’s office, said the land belonged to the military reservation which original size was pegged at about 73,000 hectares.
He questioned the issuance of the certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) to farmers, stressing the agrarian beneficiaries and a certain Guillermo Roque from the government purchased some 154 hectares of the properties subdivided but failed to present the original title.
The occupants said that being beneficiaries of the government land reform program, they really hold only to CLOAs and documents provided for by the Land registration Authority (LRA) as well as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Porfirio Gumboc, a beneficiary, said the LRA has actually paid the Land Bank of the Philippines an amount for their lots which they are paying in turn.
There are at least 18 farmer-beneficiaries in the area.
Lt. Col. Francis Lardizabal, 7th ID chief of operations, supervised the fencing operations which turned out to be peaceful.
The fencing, according to the military, is mandated by Presidential Proclamations 237 and 709 which delineate the army reservation and the creation of Barrio Militar.
Barrio Militar is an area where military retirees and their families settle.
The CLOAs were granted by the DENR and the Register of Deeds on January 16, 2008, it was learned. Some of the lots were named to Gumboc, Nemesio Mendoza and two others under Transfer Certificate of Title 19333.
However, the military assailed the legality of said TCT No. 19333, as Original Certificate of Title No. 10113, registered in the name of one Guillermo Roque, from which it was taken, was missing.
Barrios, told reporters that the DENR authorities, who parceled out the questioned landholdings, had not consulted with them at anytime in the matter of the grant to the supposed beneficiaries.
The title held by the claimants is “tainted with irregularity,” the action of the DARAB is without force and effect, Barrios said.
He said they are just “protecting the property allotted to us by the lawful authorities” as envisioned in the creation of the Fort Ramon Magsaysay military reservation.
