ZAMBOANGA CITY–The Department of Agrarian Reform in Region 9 (DAR-9) has ordered a tin-can manufacturing firm to stop development works on an agricultural land in Barangay Talisayan, this city.
DAR-9 Director Julita Ragandang issued the order to Rowell Can Corporation in a letter dated July 4 after the agency received complaints from a group of irrigators about the ongoing development in the area.
In particular, Ragandang cited the earthworks in preparation for the construction of a building being undertaken by the company on Lot No. 3-A-5 in Barangay Talisayan.
Ragandang on Thursday said the development works converting the land into an industrial site was illegal, although the lot had already been reclassified for industrial use.
It was learned from Ragandang that the City Council, through a resolution, has recently reclassified the lot as industrial from agricultural land.
“Reclassification is the act of apportioning lands, how it should be used as embodied in land use planning, especially zoning ordinance, while conversion is the actual change of the physical use of the land,” the DAR official explained.
She noted that there was no application filed by the tin-can manufacturing firm before her office “for land use conversion of the said lot.”
She reminded the company that DAR has the sole “authority to approve or disapprove conversion of agricultural lands for residential, commercial, industrial and other land uses as may be provided for by law.”
“Therefore notwithstanding the reclassification of the area into non-agricultural, the landowner is still required by law to go through the process of land use conversion and comply with all the requirements before he/she can use his/her land for other purpose(s),” Ragandang stated in her order.
She also noted that the ongoing PHP5 million irrigation project of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) will be rendered useless if the land conversion continues.
She said the irrigation project is located several meters away from the lot where the conversion works are being undertaken.
“We are not against development. But it is an irrigated area,” Ragandang said, noting that under the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA Law) the conversion of agricultural land is non-negotiable.
Ragandang said they will file charges if the firm “fails to heed” the order for violations of Section 73 of Republic Act No. 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1998, and R.A. No. 8435 or the AFMA Law. (Teofilo Garcia, Jr/PNA)
