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THE
Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association (Creba)
on Tuesday asked the Regional Trial Court in
Quezon City
to stop the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) from
implementing the land-conversion ban and other
“oppressive” rules “that go beyond its authority and
violate the Constitution and other laws.”
Creba
president Reghis Romero II said the petition was against
Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman.
Charging
DAR with usurpation of legislative powers and abuse of
authority, the petition outlined the constitutional
provisions and various laws that DAR’s land-conversion
rules and policies violate.
Creba
maintained that DAR’s authority over the conversion of
lands is limited to only those that have been awarded
and titled in the names of the beneficiaries of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, or Republic Act 6657.
However,
DAR’s rules on conversion allegedly cover “practically
all lands, whether or not covered by agrarian reform,”
and include those that have been reclassified by
Congress or by the legislative bodies of local
governments.
The DAR,
Romero said, has been generating huge revenues from
applications for land conversions, the payment of which
is computed per square meter.
“With
such requirement covering virtually all lands, including
those already reclassified for nonagricultural uses, DAR
has effectively empowered itself to exercise control
over the nation’s use of privately owned land
resources,” the Creba complaint said.
The
petition stresses, though, that “nowhere in the laws is
it provided that the DAR was created, or is authorized,
to promulgate or implement national land-use policy.”
The
national land-use policy is governed by constitutional
guarantees on equitable allocation of land resources for
food, shelter, environment and other basic needs.
“The
implementation of all these land-use laws is not
entirely or solely lodged with the DAR, such as to give
it jurisdiction over all other lands not covered by
agrarian reform,” Creba asserted.
So when
DAR requires its prior approval in converting the use of
practically any land, even outside of those covered by
agrarian reform, “it foists upon the nation the legal
abomination of the Executive encroaching on the
Legislative, in violation of the principle of separation
of powers,” the Creba petition pointed out.
“The
promulgation of these rules is ‘equivalent to
legislating on the matter, a power which has not been
and cannot be delegated to him…’ an act that
‘constitutes not only an excess of regulatory powers
conferred upon the Secretary but also an exercise of a
legislative power which he does not have,’” Creba
further states.
DAR
virtually affirmed and confirmed the extent of its
powers on April 15, when it suspended the processing and
approval of all land-use conversion applications.
It was
this moratorium that eventually compelled Creba to rise
up publicly against DAR for its oppressive and
questionable practices. |
