Just Compensation for Agri-land taken under Agrarian Reform

The concept of just compensation embraces not only the correct determination of the amount to be paid to the owners of the land, but also payment within a reasonable time from its taking. Without prompt payment, compensation cannot be considered "just" inasmuch as the property owner is made to suffer the consequences of being immediately deprived of his land while being made to wait for a decade or more before actually receiving the amount necessary to cope with his loss. To condition the payment upon Land Bank's approval and its release upon compliance with some documentary requirements would render nugatory the very essence of "prompt payment".

Conversion vs Reclassification

Conversion is the act of changing the current use of a piece of agricultural land into some other use as approved by the DAR while reclassification is the act of specifying how agricultural lands shall be utilized for non-agricultural use such as residential, industrial and commercial, as embodied in the land use plan, subject to the requirements and procedures for land use conversion. In view thereof, a mere reclassification of an agricultural land does not automatically allow a landowner to change its use. He has to undergo the process of conversion before he is permitted to use the agricultural land for other purposes. It must be stressed that agricultural lands though reclassified to residential, commercial, industrial or other non-agricultural uses must undergo the process of conversion before they can be used for the purpose to which they are intended.

IN MEMORIAM

This structure was built in memory of those who perished during the great rock and mud flow, of intense magnitude, cascading down the slope of Mayon Volcano at the height of Typhoon Reming in 30 November 2006.
Site location: Barangay Padang, Legazpi City.

Agricultural Land reserved for residential

The term "reserved for residential" does not change the nature of the land from agricultural to non-agricultural. The term simply reflects the intended use. It does not denote that the property has already been reclassified as residential, because the phrase reserved for residential is not a land classification category.
The exclusive jurisdiction to classify and identify landholdings for coverage under CARP is reposed in the DAR Secretary. The matter of CARP coverage, like the instant case for application for exemption, is strictly part of the administrative implementation of the CARP, a matter well within the competence of the DAR Secretary (Alangilan Realty and Development Corporation v. Office of the President, et al, G.R. No. 180471. March 26, 2010).

All those who don the judicial robe must always instill in their minds the exhortation that the administration of justice is a mission. Judges, from the lowest to the highest levels, are the gems in the vast government bureaucracy, beacon lights looked upon as the embodiment of all what is right, just and proper, the ultimate weapons against injustice and oppression (Lawyers of Bulacan v. Victoria Villalon-Pornillos, 592 SCRA 36).