Out of DOT's efforts has emerged the partially operational Samal Island Tourism Estate (SITE) project that is being spearheaded by the Malaysian conglomerate Ekran Berhad. Said to be the largest tourism undertaking in the country, the project has targeted 20 sites covering 6,000 hectares for the envisioned resort complexes. Thirteen of these sites are in this city while the remaining seven are in nearby Talikud Island.

But the land on which now sits the billion-peso Samal Casino Resort is actually part of a curiosity called an "agri-tourism district." The area, which measures some 250 hectares, is the property of 332 farmers who were awarded a 705-hectare chunk of land in 1993 by virtue of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Once part of the 889-hectare Fernandez Hermanos Estate, what was supposed to be a source of pride and daily sustenance for former tenant farmers has now become yet another prime example of how the noble intentions of CARP have been subverted by its supposed champion: the government.

Last week marked the 10th anniversary of the passage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) or Republic Act No. 6657, which created CARP. The program, purportedly a key concern of the Corazon Aquino government, was supposedly designed to give millions of tenant farmers and agricultural workers the chance to finally own the land their families had tilled for generations. But a landlord-heavy legislature-as well as a president belonging to a hacienda-owning clan-only guaranteed an imperfect piece of legislation that would prove easy for vested interests to play around with later.

To be sure, CARP has had its moments of success. One of these, according to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), the program's implementing agency, is the near completion of land distribution in six regions and in 921 agrarian reform communities nationwide. By the end of last year, around 60 percent of the total CARP-covered lands of 4.29 million hectares had already been distributed to farmer-beneficiaries.

But Horacio Morales, who is set to replace DAR Secretary Ernesto Garilao in two weeks, describes CARP's achievements as a "qualified success." According to Morales, the remaining 40 percent of land "left to us to distribute pose the greater difficulties." He also worries over the continuing ambiguities of CARP, stressing the need for clear state policies and legislation, particularly on land and water use. "These ought to be the subject of in-depth studies," says Morales. "Ambiguities in the law will always result in ambiguities in policy."

One existing ambiguity related to CARP is "agri-tourism," which seems to be based on the idea that tourism and agriculture can be combined. How this can be brought about isn't clear, although the development of part of the Samal farmers' CARP land into yet another tourist playground was supposed to be an experiment to see if it could be pulled off and replicated in other CARP areas.

DOT Mindanao Division Chief Ernesto B. Malay Jr., concurrent assistant project manager of SITE, admits to the vagueness of the term. "There is yet to be a government policy specific to agri-tourism development," he says, adding that his department has liberally used the term alternately with eco-tourism.

The SITE project offers little help in clearing up the matter. Here in Samal, the only thing evident is this: instead of coconut and traditional cash crops like corn, cassava, mongo, soybean, peanut, sweet potato and banana, the farmers' 250 hectares now have a 300-room luxury hotel with a host of recreational facilities. And instead of being free of worries about employment and food, the farmers are left with only two-thirds of their original CARP land award to survive on.

More than half of the cooperative's membership have also had to pack up whatever possessions they have and relocate because they were living within the project area. Not only have they ended up with considerably smaller plots to work on compared with the other farmers, the land they got in exchange for their CARP property is also less fertile and harder to till.

At first glance, it may seem like the prospects of being part of such a high-profile project proved too tempting for the farmers. But the truth is that it took the intervention of the DOT and the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) before the farmers-who had been hastily organized into the San Isidro, Libertad, San Remigio Comprehensive Land Reform Beneficiaries Multipurpose Cooperative (SLS-CARBMCO) after a one-day pre-membership training seminar-agreed to lease the land for P47 million.

The farmers had been approached earlier by representatives of Ekran chairperson Ting Pek Khiing, who offered to lease their CARP property for 50 years, renewable for 25 years. With the offer pegged at the Land Bank valuation of only P10.8 million for the farmers' entire 705 hectares, however, the SLS-CARBMCO did not readily commit to the deal.

But the cooperative's reluctance was putting the government on the spot. When the offer was made, Manila had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Kuala Lumpur regarding the development of Samal Island into a tourist resort. The farmers' property was smack in the middle of the proposed project.

Ricardo Perigo, 65, a three-time chair of SLS-CARBMCO, recalls how negotiations between his group and the DOT/PTA eventually saved the project for Ekran-and the government. "What DOT/PTA did was to enter into a lease contract with us for the amount of P47 million," he says. "It then subleased the land to Ekran for the amount the Malaysian firm originally proposed."

In truth, part of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed between the cooperative and DOT/PTA on February 3, 1994 expressed the need for government intercession through DOT and PTA. The MOA described the move as "the only viable option which will result in the favorable resolution of the pending negotiations to the best interest of all."

While the deal seems to have put the government at a disadvantage, given the discrepancy of the amount of money DOT agreed to give the farmers and the value of its sublease to Ekran, Malay sees it differently. "Think of the investment Ekran has poured into the project," he says. "That's P1.3 billion in terms of resort infrastructure."

As for the farmers themselves, Perigo quips with a laugh, "We never disagreed with any points in the MOA, strangers to documents as we are, especially since they were written in English." But he quickly turns serious: "It's a farce, this relationship between Ekran and the cooperative in terms of employment. The company has not faithfully complied with the agreement during both the project's construction and operation phases."

Perigo and other farmers point out that according to the MOA, they will have priority in the employment and training opportunities offered by the project, as well as in other income-generating ventures. But the majority of the cooperative's members did not even finish elementary school and so the only jobs they stand to get are those involving landscaping, maintenance and janitorial services. Or perhaps caddying at the 18-hole golf course that has yet to be built at an estimated cost of P400 million.

But the farmers say even these job opportunities are being denied them. Of the 40 cooperative members who applied for jobs at the resort, not one passed, despite the training seminars they went through. Many failed to meet even the height and age requirements. Complains Alfonso Lazaro, 63: "We are not given priority even in the lowest rank of laborers."

"Of course, we want as best we can to provide them employment," says Malay, "but since this is a world-class tourism project, they still have to meet certain qualification standards."

As it is, the farmers are becoming increasingly desperate for any kind of work to supplement their meager earnings. The initial payment of P20 million has long been distributed equally among the cooperative's 332 members, who have spent most, if not all, of their share.

The remaining P27 million, meanwhile, was supposed to be held in trust by a holding corporation to be established in connection with the Ekran project. But the farmers did not like that idea, and the cooperative drafted a business plan as per DOT's petition to justify the release of the balance.

Soon afterward, SLS-CARBMCO was wracked by dissension over leadership and fund management. The cooperative later split into two bitter factions that remain at odds to this day even as its funds continue to be depleted.

At a time when CARP, under the final year of Garilao's stewardship, has prioritized development of agrarian reform communities (ARCs) toward enhanced productivity and income-generation, the cooperative ironically is still stuck at the organizational strengthening stage despite having been formed five years ago.

Theofe Flores, the acknowledged chair of the majority faction, says he has inherited a cooperative greatly weakened not so much in membership but in terms of funds. Virtually nothing is left today of the P27 million, parts of which went to land payment (P10.8 million) livelihood and loan assistance (P6 million), salaries and bonuses (P3 million), disturbance pay for families to be relocated (P3 million), and survey fee for relocation sites. The cooperative also spent close to P1 million on attorney's fees alone in the course of the legal battles being waged between the contending factions.

It is only fair that the farmers should take some responsibility for their present misery. But a government that apparently failed to watch out for the interests of a marginalized sector in its efforts to please a foreign entity is not entirely blameless. One telling stipulation in the MOA between the DOT/PTA and Ekran was the understanding that the project area would be classified as "Agri-Tourism District," which meant it would not have to seek a land use conversion or exemption clearance from DAR.

Malay now also says confidently: "DAR has guidelines on the development of 'agro-tourism' areas which allows the farmer-beneficiaries of CARP the option to lease or enter into joint venture agreements involving their lands."

These guidelines are contained in DAR's Administrative Order No. 4, which prefers "agro-tourism" to the DOT's "agri-tourism." More importantly, though, AO 4 was actually issued a month and a half after the MOAs concerning the farmers' CARP land were signed, which means the guidelines could not have been made the basis of the agreements.

Still, crucial legal areas that would have otherwise posed problems for projects such as SITE were covered by the order. And while it seems to be a catch-up measure, whoever crafted it did his homework. The basis for the issuance of the guidelines was Section 27 of RA 6657. While this Section provides for the non-transferability of lands acquired by farmers under the Act for a period of 10 years, the provision allows such lands to be sold, transferred or conveyed to the government, among other parties.

In Samal's case, DOT was that government entity. And since AO 4 allows land already leased to government to be subleased in turn to an investor/developer, DOT was in the clear when it subleased the farmers' 250 hectares to Ekran.

The SITE project also found support in Executive Order No. 124 (s. 1993), which has certain provisions governing priority areas for land conversion, including tourism development areas (TDAs). Conversions of this nature, however, require evaluation by the concerned government agencies with respect to the following:

• the lands are non-negotiable for conversion as provided for in Administrative Order No. 20, Series of 1992, as determined by the Department of Agriculture; and
• the lands are already distributed subject to Section 65 of R.A. 6657 or covered by a notice of acquisition or voluntarily offered for coverage under CARP, as determined by DAR.

Should a site fall within these areas, EO 124 says alternative tourism sites shall be identified by the regional land use councils with concerned local government units (LGUs) and lead agencies.

But the Ekran project did not have to worry about these, given the slew of executive fiats that established its special status. Only last year, for example, Presidential Proclamation No. 1108 declared the SITE project as an eco-tourism area.

Last April 25, President Fidel Ramos firmed up his commitment to the project by issuing Presidential Proclamation No. 1212, which declared the 250-hectare Ekran investment area as a special economic zone. This on an island that thrives mainly on agriculture, with 73 percent of its land devoted to farming. The Department of Agriculture in Region XI, in fact, certifies that Kaputian as agricultural land, a prime area for coconut plantations, though some portions have limestone as subsoil material.

An internal memo of a Davao-based non-government organization also contains these views from a SITE project advisory committee member: "For me, CARP's implementation (there) was a failure. CARP was used as a ploy for development, but it was not agricultural development. CARP was used para malusutan ang batas (to circumvent the law)….And it set a precedent kung paano malulusutan ang mga technicalities na yon."

"(The) government is coopted, the government becomes the agent of the (multinationals) just because of the push for tourism development in Samal," the committee member added. "I'm not very comfortable with that since the government should be the one to protect the people, and do a balancing job to reach a win-win situation for both parties. This did not happen in the case of Samal."

Interestingly, nothing in the text of the proposed National Land Use Act-which the incoming Estrada administration is being urged to put in place immediately so as to protect agricultural lands from indiscriminate land conversions-ever mentions "agri-tourism." The only tourism-related terms that appear in the proposed Act are TDAs and tourism estates. And they are never taken in association with agriculture.