CIAC keeps control of DMIA aviation complex
By Reynaldo G. Navales
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
CLARK FREEPORT ZONE — The Court of Appeals (CA) 6th Division has affirmed the control of the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) over a disputed portion of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) aviation complex.
The decision of the CA regarding the land now under the jurisdiction of CIAC, which is disputed by the Hermogenes Rodriguez Estate and the Clark Development Corporation (CDC), has become final and executory.
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The informal settlers at the property reportedly failed to take action on the decision.
The CA also reversed a decision of the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (Darab) after it was learned that the case was not under the jurisdiction of the board as the disputed land is not agricultural land.
In a September 21, 2010 decision, issued by Associate Justice Ramon Bato Jr. of the CA 6th Division, it affirmed the Darab decision on May 7, 2007, and attained finality on October 23, 2010 “declaring the plaintiffs-appellees (informal settlers) not tenants” following the failure of the appellees to file a motion for reconsideration or a Supreme Court petition.
The case was filed by the informal settlers, collectively known as the Cabcom Multi-Purpose Cooperative Inc., who claimed they had been tilling the land in the then Clark Air Base since 1982 and are entitled to security of tenure.
The disputed lands are now under the jurisdiction of the CIAC by virtue of Executive Order (EO) 716 issued in April 2008 that transformed CIAC into a subsidiary of the BCDA. CIAC was established in 1994 to operate and manage the Clark Civil Aviation Complex.
After Congress approved Republic Act No. 7227, or the Bases Conversion and Development Act of 1992, that provides for, among others, the conversion of the Clark and Subic military reservations and extensions for alternative productive use as special economic zones, the land was taken over by CDC as the implementing arm of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to manage the then Clark Special Economic Zone.
Subsequently, Republic Act No. 9400 declared the former 4,400-hectare Special Economic Zone as a Freeport.
The informal settlers filed cases in 1997 with Darab for maintenance as lessees-tenants and to place their respective landholdings under the Operation Land Transfer of Presidential Decree 27 and RA 6657.
The CDC appealed, stating “the properties involved are not agricultural in nature and had been earmarked for development into an international civil aviation complex, a modern industrial estate and a tourism, trade and business center” and as such “the Provincial Adjudicator had no jurisdiction over the case as petitioners’ landholdings are outside the ambit of the agrarian reform program.”
The CDC cited that its agreement with the settlers does not cover tenure but that it merely permitted them to continue farming the land out of humanitarian consideration and goodwill, subject to the condition that they will immediately surrender the land should these be needed by government for the completion of the airport complex and the industrial development of the Clark Special Economic Zone.
At the same time, the CA stated the lands involved in the dispute are not, and were never, classified as agricultural lands, as Darab said that even if the land were suitable for agriculture, it did not in any way alter its primary purpose, which was, prior to being converted into an economic zone, primarily for military purposes.
The Court cited the rule that until a given parcel of land is released from its classification as part of the military reservation and reclassified by law or by Presidential proclamation as disposable and alienable, its status as part of a military reservation remains, even if incidentally, it is devoted for a purpose other than a military camp of for defense.
With the CA decision, CIAC officials will now institute measures for the clearing of the informal settlers in the area to make way for the development of the Clark airport and the civil aviation complex.
Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2011/06/07/ciac-keeps-control-dmia-aviation-complex-159739
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