Arrest order vs Teves ‘excessive’

The Court of Appeals (CA) has ruled in favor of Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) president and chief executive officer Margarito Teves regarding the arrest order which a provincial agrarian reform adjudicator issued against him in May last year.

"It was unduly harsh, arbitrary and excessive," the appellate court said.

Provincial agrarian reform adjudicator Napoleon Baguilat ordered Teves’ arrest and imprisonment for his alleged refusal to pay P75 million to the owners of a 54-hectare land placed under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The court, however, said the order could be considered void because it was issued without first determining or declaring whether Teves was guilty of contempt or not.

Teves said he defied Baguilat’s order because the payment sought by the landowners — former CA Justice Fernando Santiago and Loreto Santos — at P1.4 million per hectare, was disadvantageous to the farmer-beneficiaries.

"How can an ordinary farmer pay P1.4 million per hectare? I just did what was necessary at that time to protect the interest of the farmers who are the bank’s primary clients," Teves said.

In its valuation in 1972, the Landbank assessed the 54-hectare land at P3 million or about P56,600 per hectare.

"Under Presidential Decree 27, that was the valuation prescribed by law," Teves said.

The Landbank acts as a conduit of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in implementing CARP. It values the land identified by DAR for the program and compensates the landowners.

To date, it has advanced for the national government over P3 billion, which has not been reimbursed and counted as among the bank’s bad assets.