EIGHTH DIVISION

[CA-G.R. SP No. 57435.  November 23, 2001.]

PHILIPPINE COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE CORPORATION, petitioner, vs. DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM, respondent.

D E C I S I O N

ENRIQUEZ, JR., J p:

This is a Petition for Review under Rule 43 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, which seeks to nullify and set aside the Resolution dated 31 January 2000 denying petitioner's motion for reconsideration of the Order dated 25 May 1998 issued by respondent Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB), Quezon City, in re: Protest of Philcomsat against the coverage of its landholdings situated at Pinugay, Baras, Rizal, the dispositive portion of which reads, as follows:

"WHEREFORE, premises considered, Order is hereby issued denying the protest of PHILCOMSAT against the CARP coverage of its landholdings situated at Pinugay, Baras, Rizal. FURTHER, the Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer (MARO) of Baras, Rizal is ordered to proceed with the coverage of the subject landholding in pursuance with the provisions of R.A. 6657.

SO ORDERED."

The facts of the case as culled from the records are as follows:

(1)       Petitioner is the owner of a parcel of land located in Pinugay, Baras, Rizal which landholding, the Department of Agrarian Reform wanted placed under the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program of the government;

(2)       The said landholding has occupants in it who planted several fruit trees;

(3)       Prior to the DAR's decision of subjecting the said landholding to the CARP, herein petitioner initiated a letter-communication addressed to the DAR Secretary requesting for the exemption of the petitioner's property from the CARP coverage, as it is being used for national defense, among other reasons. Said argument was based on Section 10 of R.A. 6657, which provides, thus:

"Exemptions and Exclusions. — Lands actually, directly, and exclusively used and found necessary for parks, wildlife, forest reserves, reforestation, fish sanctuaries and breeding grounds, watersheds and mangroves, national defense, . . ., shall be exempt from the coverage of this Act."

(4)       Aside from the aforesaid reason, petitioner likewise anchors its request for exemption on the following grounds:

a.         PSCC should be free from harmful Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) to maintain highest service reliability. The minimum area is plotted as "RFI FREE ZONE" in Inclosures #3 and #4, in compliance with International Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) standard, per Appendix-C INTELSAT Earth Station site selection criteria (Inclosure #5), of which the Philippines is a member Country and a Signatory to the Agreement. PSCC should be able to maintain the integrity of the Restoration Plan for outages of the Transpacific Fiber Optic Cable System per Inclosure #8, which may also be hampered if there is harmful Radio Frequency Interference, hence, the probability of international communications block out;

b.         Compliance with the provisions of PD 1845 as amended by PD 1848 (Inclosure #9) and recent DND Letter S-93 stating the vitality of the PSCC in the security system within the purview of national defense, per Inclosure #10; and

c.         The development of the area, in response to the Philippines' plan to launch its own national satellite and to address the massive telecommunications build-up in the Asia-Pacific Region;

(5)       Petitioner's application for exemption from CARP coverage was evaluated by the DAR. During the pendency of the application, DAR proposed that a usufructuary agreement between petitioner and the farmers in its landholdings be forged (Rollo, p. 054).

(6)       However, although petitioner is amenable to such proposal by the Department of Agrarian Reform for such usufructuary agreement, such proposal did not materialize as the farmers-tillers who are occupying the property refused to enter into such proposed agreement;

(7)       On May 25, 1998, DAR Secretary Ernesto D. Garilao issued the assailed Order (Rollo, pp. 036-045).

(8)       Petitioner moved for reconsideration of the adverse Order which was denied in an Order dated 31 January 2000 issued by DAR Secretary Horacio R. Morales (Rollo, pp. 040-041).

Hence, this petition for review with the petitioners contending that the Department of Agrarian Reform committed grave errors in its appreciation of the facts and its application of the relevant laws, in refusing to exempt petitioner's Philippine Earth Station from CARP Coverage, considering that:

A

"BY EXPRESS PROVISION OF LAW, THE PHILIPPINE EARTH STATION IS LAND USED FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE AND IS THUS EXEMPT FROM CARP COVERAGE;

B

SECTION 3 OF PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1848, BY ALLOWING TENANTS OR LESSEES TO OCCUPY THE SECURITY ZONE AROUND THE PHILIPPINE EARTH STATION, DOES NOT NEGATE THE EXEMPT STATUS OF THIS SECURITY ZONE;

C

SECTION 3 OF PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1848 BENEFITS ONLY SPECIFIC PERSONS AND, MOREOVER, REQUIRES THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE SECRETARY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE FOR THE CONTINUED OCCUPATION OF THE SECURITY ZONE AROUND THE PHILIPPINE EARTH STATION;

D

THE DAR'S ASSAILED ORDERS WILL, IN EFFECT, PLACE THE PHILIPPINES IN BREACH OF ITS INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE INTERNATIONAL SATELLITE ORGANIZATION ("INTELSAT").

The issue to be resolved is whether or not petitioner's landholdings may be exempted from CARP coverage on the ground that it consists of its satellite earth station and is declared a security zone.

We find the petition to be impressed with merit.

Petitioner contends that respondent DAR erred in finding that the security zone around the Philippine Earth Station is not a land "used for national defense" as contemplated in Section 10 of R.A. 6657, and should not be exempt from CARP coverage.

Republic Act 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, provides, as follows:

"Section 4.    Scope — The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1989 shall cover, regardless of tenurial arrangement and commodity produced, all public and private agricultural lands, as provided in Proclamation No. 131 and Executive Order No. 229, including other lands of the public domain suitable for agriculture.

More specifically the following lands are covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program:

(a)       All inalienable and disposable lands of the public domain devoted to or suitable for agriculture. No reclassification of forest or mineral lands to agricultural lands shall be undertaken after the approval of this Act until Congress, taking into account ecological, developmental and equity considerations, shall have determined by law, the specific limits of the public domain.

(b)       All lands of the public domain in excess of the specific limits as determined by Congress in the preceding paragraph;

(c)       All other lands owned by the Government devoted to or suitable for agriculture; and

(d)       All private lands devoted to or suitable for agriculture regardless of the agricultural products raised or that can be raised thereon.

On the other hand, P.D. No. 1848 which revised P.D. No. 1845 declaring the surrounding area of the Satellite Station in Baras, Rizal Province, a security zone, provides, thus:

"SECTION 1.          Declaration of Security Zone. — The entire area surrounding the satellite earth station in Sitio San Miguel Barrio Pinugay, Municipality of Baras, Province of Rizal, Island of Luzon, within a radius of three kilometers, more or less, from the main satellite earth station, the metes and bounds of such area to be determined by the Minister of National Defense, is hereby declared a security zone. For this purpose, and in the interest of national security, ingress to and egress from the security zone as well as occupancy of portions thereof shall be controlled and regulated, without prejudice to the payments of just compensation to persons whose rights of ownership may be injuriously affected thereby. Likewise for the same purpose reasonable searches and seizures may be effected by order of the minister of National Defense, upon any house, residence, dwelling, building, or any other structure within the zone, on his determination of the existence of probable cause that articles, instruments, goods, items or other objects are being stored or hidden for the commission of an offense involving the security of the satellite air station, or any other ancillary installations, and/or the personnel thereof.

SECTION 2.            Occupation by Third Parties Illegal. — All occupants of lands within the security zone who do not own the lands they are occupying, as well as occupants who are not bona fide tenants, lessees, or agents of the registered owners shall vacate the area they are occupying within sixty (60) days from the date of effectivity of this Decree."

The subject property is clearly within the Scope of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, in accordance with Chapter II, Section 4 (d) thereof, had it not been decreed by P.D. No. 1845 that it is a security zone. The very purpose by which P.D. No. 1845 was passed declaring the area within a radius of three kilometers surrounding the satellite earth station in Baras, Rizal a security zone is to protect and insure the safety and uninterrupted operation of the modern media of international communications in the said property, as indicated in the whereas clause of said law. Thus, to subject said security zone to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program of the government would negate the very purpose by which P.D. 1845, as revised by P.D. 1848, was decreed. These laws have never been repealed.

P.D. 1848 is also specific in that occupation of the area, either by the owners or their bonafide tenants require a prior written permission or authority from the Ministry of National Defense, now Department of National Defense. It is therefore the Department of National Defense which will determine as to who can occupy the subject property, and not the Department of Agrarian Reform. To subject the property in question to agrarian reform is indirectly giving the Department of Agrarian Reform authority to determine as to who can occupy the property, in violation of the mandate of P.D. 1848.

We find it not necessary to determine whether or not the subject property is actually, directly, and exclusively used for national defense, to be exempted from the coverage of R.A. 6657. The law which decreed the areas a security zone is very clear in its purpose. It is a principle in statutory construction that where there are two statutes that apply to a particular case, that which was specifically designed for the said case must prevail over the other (Lapid vs. Court of Appeals, 334 SCRA 738).

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the instant petition is hereby GRANTED. The Order dated 25 May 1998 issued by respondent Department of Agrarian Reform as well as the Resolution dated 31 January 2000 denying petitioner's motion for reconsideration of the said Order are hereby NULLIFIED and SET ASIDE and a new one is entered, declaring the subject landholdings of petitioner, situated at Pinugay, Baras, Rizal, exempted from the CARP coverage, considering that it was declared a security zone under P.D. 1845, as revised by P.D. 1848.

SO ORDERED.

Vidallon-Magtolis and Rivera, JJ., concur.