THE city government’s efforts to regain ownership of the 30-hectare lot in San Jacinto town that was placed under the compulsory coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), continue.

The city legal office recently submitted to the Department of Agrarian Reform all the documentary evidence it had in connection with its motion for reconsideration on the decision of the Department of Agrarian Reform Arbitration Board  (DARAB) placing the land under CARP.

The land, located in Barangay Awai, San Jacinto, was bought by the city for P16 million on April 11, 2002 ostensibly as the site for   its planned sanitary landfill.

The documents were submitted two weeks before the May 31 deadline set by DAR.

City Legal Officer George Mejia said included in the documents submitted to the DAR was a topographical map showing that the 30-hectare property bought by the city in barangay Awai, San Jacinto is sloping and unfit for agriculture.

Dagupan City, then under Mayor Benjamin Lim, lost by default in a case for redemption filed by supposed tenants before DARAB on March 15, 2002 and amended on August 22, 2002. The city of Dagupan was listed as among the respondents.

Initially, the Lim administration failed to file a motion for recommendation on the resolution of   DARAB remanding the records of the case to the DAR provincial operations division for administrative compulsory   acquisition of   the land under CARP.

DARAB’s resolution was made final and executory on September 2, 2002.

When Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. took over the reins of the city government on July 1, 2007, he immediatelyordered the legal office to file a motion for reconsideration on the DARAB decision.

“We had to prepare a topographical map with the help of a geodetic engineer from La Union to support our previous contention that the area is sloping and therefore is not fit for cultivation by farmers,” Mejia said,

The plan to convert the 30-hectare lot into a sanitary landfill for both Dagupan and San Jacinto was opposed by the residents of the barangay in San Jacinto.

According to Mejia, he has the option to elevate the matter to higher DAR   authorities   and   the Supreme Court if the motion for reconsideration is finally denied by the DAR regional office.—LM

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