CENTRAL MINDANAO UNIVERSITY REPRESENTED BY ITS PRESIDENT DR.
LEONARDO A. CHUA, petitioner, vs. THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM
ADJUDICATION BOARD, THE COURT OF APPEALS AND ALVIN OBRIQUE, REPRESENTING
BUKIDNON FREE FRAMERS AGRICULTURAL LABORERS ORGANIZATION (BUFFALO), respondents
G.R. No. 10091 | October 22, 1992
FACTS:
Petitioner CMU is an agricultural educational institution
owned and run by the State located in Musuan, Bukidnon. In 1984, CMU adopted a
livelihood program called “Kilusang Sariling Sikap Program” under which the
land resources of the University were leased to its faculty and employees.
Under this program, the faculty and staff combine themselves to groups of 5
members each, and CMU provided technical know-how, practical training and all
kinds of assistance, to enable each group to cultivate 4-5 hectares of land for
the lowland rice project. Each group pays CMU a service fee and also a land use
participant’s fee. The contract prohibits participants and their hired workers
to establish houses or live in the project are and to use the cultivated land
as a collateral for any kind of loan. It was expressly stipulated that no
landlord-tenant relationship existed between the CMU and the faculty and/or
employees.
Among the participants in this program were Alvin Obrique,
Felix Guinanao, Joven Caballero, Nestor Pulao, Danilo Vasquez, Aronio Pelayo
and other complainants. Obrique was a Physics Instructor at the CMU while the
others were employees in the lowland rice project. The other complainants who
were not members of the faculty or non-academic staff of the CMU, were hired
workers or laborers of the participants in this program.
On July 1986, Dr. Leonardo Chua discontinued the
agri-business project due to losses incurred while carrying on said project.
Some CMU personnel, among whom were the complainants, were laid-off when this
project was discontinued.
Sometime in 1986, CMU launched a self-help project called
CMU-Income Enhancement Program (CMU-IEP) under which the CMU would provide the
use of 4-5 hectares of land to a group of 5 CMU employees for 1 calendar year.
In turn, each group would to CMU P100 as service fee and P1,000 per hectare as
participant’s land rental fee. In addition, 400 kilograms of the produce per
year would be turned over or donated to the CMU-IDF. The participants agreed
not to allow their hired laborers or members of their family to establish any
house or live within the vicinity of the project area and not to use the
allocated lot as collateral for a loan. It was expressly provided that no
tenant-landlord relationship would exist as a result of the Agreement.
Initially the program was extended only to workers and staff members who were
still employed by CMU later it was also extended to former workers and
employees.
The one-year contracts expired on June 30, 1988. Some contracts
were renewed. Those whose contracts were not renewed were served with notices
to vacate.
The non-renewal of the contracts, the discontinuance of the
rice, corn and sugar cane project, the loss of jobs due to termination or
separation from the service and the alleged harassment by school authorities,
all contributed to, and precipitated the filing of, the complaint.
On the basis of the above facts, the DARAB found that the
private respondents were not tenants and cannot therefore be beneficiaries
under the CARP. At the same time, the DARAB ordered the segregation of 400
hectares of suitable, compact and contiguous portions of the CMU land and their
inclusion in the CARP for distribution to qualified beneficiaries.
The decision of the Adjudication Board to segregate 400
hectares from the CMU land is primarily based on the alleged fact that the land
subject hereof is “not directly, actually and exclusively used for school
sites, because the same was leased to Philippine Packing Corporation.
ISSUE:
Whether or not petitioner’s land can be subject to CARP
RULING:
The construction given by the DARAB to Section 10 restricts
the land area of the CMU to its present needs or to a land area presently,
actively exploited and utilized by the university in carrying out its present
educational program with its present student population and academic
facility—overlooking the very significant factor of growth of the university in
the years to come. By the nature of the CMU, which is a school established to
promote agriculture and industry, the need for a vast tract of agricultural
land for future programs of expansion is obvious.
The agreement with the Philippine Packing Corporation was
not a lease but a Management and Development Agreement, a joint undertaking
where use by the Philippine Packing Corporation of the land was part of the CMU
research program, with the direct participation of faculty and students. Said
contracts with the Philippine Packing Corporation and others of a similar
nature were made prior to the enactment of R.A. 6657 and were directly connected
to the purpose and objectives of the CMU as an educational institution. As soon
as the objectives of the agreement for the joint use of the CMU land were
achieved as of June 1988, the CMU adopted a blue print for the exclusive use
and utilization of said areas to carry out its own research and agricultural
experiments.
The Court opined that the 400 hectares ordered segregated by
the DARAB is not covered by the CARP because:
(1)
It is not alienable and disposable land of the
public domain;
(2)
The CMU land reservation is not in excess of
specific limits as determined by Congress;
(3)
It is private land registered and titled in the
name of its lawful owner, the CMU;
(4)
It is exempt from coverage under Section 10 of
R.A. 6657 because the lands are actually, directly and exclusively used and
found to be necessary for school site and campus, including experimental farm
stations for educational purposes, and for establishing seed and seedling
research and pilot production centers.
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