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Tarlac ARBs file admin raps vs. prosecutor

By Benjamin Pulta

July 7, 2022, 5:24 pm

MANILA – An administrative complaint was filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday by agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) from Tarlac against a prosecutor in the province for grave and serious misconduct.

In their nine-page joint complaint-affidavit, the complainants who are farmers from Barangay Tinang, Concepcion, Tarlac accused Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Mila Mae Montefalco of "willful refusal to follow the law", and "conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service ", and sought her dismissal.

The farmers were arrested by the police last June 9 during a "bungkalan" (land cultivation activity) which was related to a land dispute in the area.

They alleged that Montefalco showed bias when she held inquest proceedings in an "unreasonable, unfair, oppressive or discriminatory manner".

Montefalco also did not allow the request from the lawyer of the farmers to refer the case to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) as an "agrarian dispute", the group claimed.

She filed charges of malicious mischief and illegal assembly which were subsequently dismissed by the Capas-Bamban-Conception Municipal Circuit Trial Court (MCTC 2) on June 27.

The individuals who are ARBs of a 200 parcel of land previously owned by the Dominican Province of the Philippines Inc. (DPPI) were issued a collective Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) on September 26, 1995.

In 2017, the farmers filed a formal letter with the DAR regional office requesting that the lands under the collective CLOA be subdivided and that the ARBs be issued individual CLOAS after Tinang Multi-Purpose Cooperative took possession and control of the entire land.

In 2018, the DAR ruled to grant the individual CLOAs with each of the individuals allocated 8,027 square meters.

No individual CLOAs were issued, however, and the individuals returned to the DAR to block the sale and transfer of the lands into residential use. (PNA)

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