MANILA, Philippines–Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Monday filed a resolution expressing the Senate’s sense that a vast farm allegedly owned by Vice President Jejomar Binay should be distributed to farmers if covered by the agrarian reform program.
Quoting the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Santiago said Rosario town in Batangas province, where the farm is located, was agricultural and hence covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
In Rosario, some 632 hectares of land are subject to CARP, she said.
“The Rosario, Batangas, property—whether consisting of 145 or 350 ha—should be properly assessed by the Department of Agrarian Reform, and if it falls under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, should be immediately acquired and distributed to farmer-beneficiaries,” she said in her resolution.
Businessman Antonio Tiu has come forward to claim ownership of a 150-ha property in Rosario that a whistle-blower claimed was part of the P1.2-billion, 350-ha farm of Binay.
Tiu is the owner of Sunchamp Real Estate Development Corp. that manages the 150-ha property, called Sunchamp Agri-Tourism Park.
Santiago, a former agrarian reform secretary, said the size of the farm, whether 150 ha or 350 ha, indicated a possible violation of the agrarian reform law, which limits land ownership to 5 ha.
The intent of the law was to break up haciendas or agricultural estates and give them to farmers, she said.
Under this law, the DAR has to issue a certificate of land ownership award (Cloa) or emancipation patent (EP) before a person can claim ownership of an agricultural land, the senator said.
The only exception to the sale of an agricultural land under agrarian reform is when it is converted into commercial or residential land, but this needs DAR approval, she said.