(Eagle News) — The Department of Justice has recommended the revocation of a land agreement between the Bureau of Corrections and banana firm Tagum Agricultural Development Company Inc. owned by the family of Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr.
In its list of recommendations made public during a House of Representatives hearing on the allegedly anomalous contract on Tuesday, the DOJ fact-finding committee tasked to look into the deal also instructed BuCor to “file the appropriate action for the declaration of nullity of the (joint venture agreement) or the lease agreement as the case may be.”
The House inquiry is being jointly conducted by the committee on good government and public accountability, and the committee on justice, based on Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s formal request in March.
Alvarez and Floirendo are at loggerheads following an alleged confrontation between their girlfriends.
The Speaker also filed a graft case against Floirendo in connection with the deal, which allows the lease of 5,308.36 hectares of the Davao Penal Colony reservation for Tadeco’s banana plantation.
Also included in the DOJ’s recommendation was President Rodrigo Duterte’s issuance of a proclamation that would “reclassify the Davao Prisons and Penal Farm as alienable and disposable land for the (BuCor)…”
Tadeco-BuCor deal
The deal between Tadeco and BuCor was inked in 1969, and was renewed over the years, with the latest lease extension allotting an annual production share of P26,541,809, plus mandatory increase of 10 percent, every five years, to the BuCor.
Under the deal, the BuCor was also supposed to have its share from the company’s banana exports.
Solicitor General Jose Calida had argued the agreement was against the law, in particular the Public Land Act and the Constitution, as private corporations were only allowed to “hold lands of the public domain through lease for a total period not exceeding 50 years.”
“The JVA cannot be allowed to last until 2029,” he had said.
Alvarez, for his part, noted, among others, that the contract was disadvantageous to the government, as it was based on the “low lease rates of around P5,000 per hectare per year, compared to the prevailing lease rates of P35,000 per hectare per year of underdeveloped land, in the same area.”