This case has been cited 3 times or more.
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2010-09-21 |
ABAD, J. |
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| The key question lies in the character of the lands taken from CMU. In CMU v. Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB),[7] the DARAB, a national government agency charged with taking both privately-owned and government-owned agricultural lands for distribution to farmers-beneficiaries, ordered the segregation for this purpose of 400 hectares of CMU lands. The Court nullified the DARAB action considering the inalienable character of such lands, being part of the long term functions of an autonomous agricultural educational institution. Said the Court: The construction given by the DARAB to Section 10 restricts the land area of the CMU to its present needs or to a land area presently, actively exploited and utilized by the university in carrying out its present educational program with its present student population and academic facility -- overlooking the very significant factor of growth of the university in the years to come. By the nature of the CMU, which is a school established to promote agriculture and industry, the need for a vast tract of agricultural land for future programs of expansion is obvious. At the outset, the CMU was conceived in the same manner as land grant colleges in America, a type of educational institution which blazed the trail for the development of vast tracts of unexplored and undeveloped agricultural lands in the Mid-West. What we now know as Michigan State University, Penn State University and Illinois State University, started as small land grant colleges, with meager funding to support their ever increasing educational programs. They were given extensive tracts of agricultural and forest lands to be developed to support their numerous expanding activities in the fields of agricultural technology and scientific research. Funds for the support of the educational programs of land grant colleges came from government appropriation, tuition and other student fees, private endowments and gifts, and earnings from miscellaneous sources. It was in this same spirit that President Garcia issued Proclamation No. 476, withdrawing from sale or settlement and reserving for the Mindanao Agricultural College (forerunner of the CMU) a land reservation of 3,080 hectares as its future campus. It was set up in Bukidnon, in the hinterlands of Mindanao, in order that it can have enough resources and wide open spaces to grow as an agricultural educational institution, to develop and train future farmers of Mindanao and help attract settlers to that part of the country. | |||||
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2005-03-16 |
AUSTRIA-MARTINEZ, J. |
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| C. Lands which have been classified or proclaimed, and/or actually directly and exclusively used and found to be necessary for parks, wildlife, forest reserves, fish sanctuaries and breeding grounds, and watersheds and mangroves shall be exempted from the coverage of CARP until Congress, taking into account ecological, developmental and equity considerations, shall have determined by law, the specific limits of public domain, as provided for under Sec. 4(a) of RA 6657, and a reclassification of the said areas or portions thereof as alienable and disposable has been approved. (Emphasis supplied) In order to be exempt from coverage, the land must have been classified or proclaimed and actually, directly and exclusively used and found to be necessary for watershed purposes.[68] In this case, at the time the DAR issued the Notices of Coverage up to the time the DARAB rendered its decision on the dispute, the subject property is yet to be officially classified or proclaimed as a watershed and has in fact long been used for agricultural purposes. SRRDC relies on the case of Central Mindanao University (CMU) vs. DARAB,[69] wherein the Court ruled that CMU is in the best position to determine what property is found necessary for its use. SRRDC claims that it is in the best position to determine whether its properties are "necessary" for development as park and watershed area.[70] | |||||
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2004-03-23 |
YNARES-SANTIAGO, J. |
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| unambiguous. Thus, the "plain meaning rule" or verba legis in statutory construction is applicable in this case. Where the words of a statute are clear, plain and free from ambiguity, it must be given its literal meaning and applied without attempted interpretation.[14] We are not unaware of our ruling in the case of Central Mindanao University v. Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board,[15] wherein we declared the land subject thereof exempt from CARP coverage. However, respondent DECS' reliance | |||||