The president of Task Force Mapalad said yesterday it is too early for landowner Roberto Cuenca's camp to claim vindication after the Supreme Court issued a resolution ordering Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and eight others to answer contempt charges.

In a resolution dated June 5, SC en banc ordered Pangandaman, DAR Undersecretaries Narciso Nieto and Jeffrey Galan, DAR Regional Director Alexis Arsenal, and former Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Stephen Leonidas, among others, to show cause why they should not be cited for contempt of court for the installation of TFM beneficiaries in Hacienda Velez-Malaga, La Castellana, on March 22 despite a pending case.

In a statement he issued, Jose Rodito Angeles said the issuance of the resolution was a matter of court procedures and that the SC was merely acting on a petition as any court was bound to do.

He said it does not constitute an impediment to the Velez-Malaga farmer-beneficiaries occupying and cultivating the land already awarded to them.

He added that Cuenca and his lawyer Mario Diaz were misleading the public on the true status of legal case in Hacienda-Velez Malaga, La Castellana, in filing the contempt charges.

Meanwhile, also ordered by the SC to answer for contempt charges are PNP Regional Director PNP Regional Director Supt. Reynaldo Rafal, Col. Jess Manangquil - 11th Infantry Battalion commander, Senior Supt. Pedro Merced - 6th Regional Mobile Group commander, and La Castellana Police Chief Senior Inspector Regidor Alvarado.

The SC resolution stemmed from the annulment for coverage petition filed by Cuenca before the Regional Trial Court of La Carlota City.

In the petition, Cuenca contended that the notice of coverage filed by DAR on his property was beyond the four-year period prescribed under the law. The CARP law provides that lands over 50 hectares should be covered and completed within four years from 1988 when the law took effect, Diaz said.

However, the TFM said that Cuenca and Diaz have no real basis to question the installation of farmer-beneficiaries in Velez-Malaga, since the RTC Branch 63 of La Carlota City dismissed Cuenca's case for annulment of CARP coverage of the 446-hacienda on December 15, 2005.*NAB

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