Thank you for email of 27 July 2017 allowing us to respond to a news report that unjustifiably insinuated an unfounded link of Lapanday Foods Corp. (LFC) to a purported victim of extrajudicial killing in Cotabato City by mentioning the victim's participation in the unlawful occupation and control by the Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association, Inc. (MARBAI) of a portion of the Tagum City farm belonging to Hijo Employees Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative-1 (HEARBCO-1). Lapanday Foods Corp. (LFC)  manages the farm of HEARBCO-1 for and on behalf of HEARBCO-1.

Please be advised that Lapanday Foods Corp. (LFC) has no involvement whatsoever in the alleged incident. Our company does not know the alleged victim and, until your email, was unaware of the incident. Please note that Cotabato City where the incident allegedly happened is about 170 kilometers from Tagum City; these cities belong to different provinces in Mindanao.

With respect to the supposed "protest camp" of Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association Inc. (MARBAI)​,  please be advised that MARBAI and its members and supporters unlawfully occupied and controlled a part of HEARBCO-1's farm and, to date, continue to do so in violation of the contracts between  HEARBCO-1 and LFC and validly subsisting court decisions. In its final and executory Order dated 18 April 2017 in Civil Case No. 33,536-2010, the  Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Davao City, Branch 14 reiterated the finality and validity of the Compromise Agreement between HEARBCO-1 and LFC.  The Compromise Agreement affirmed LFC’s right to possess and manage portions of HEARBCO-1’s farm (including the part illegally occupied by MARBAI) and to exclusively buy all the fruits produced therein.  The RTC sustained the Writ of Execution and the Alias Writ of Execution issued in the case and denied the Department of Agrarian Reform's (DAR) Motions to Quash Alias Writ and to refer to DAR the case as well as the individual motions to dismiss and to refer the case to the DAR filed by MARBAI officers.  Citing a final and executory decision of the Court of Appeals on the matter, the RTC held that the case is not an agrarian dispute and the DAR has no jurisdiction and business to interfere in the case.  The RTC admonished the DAR to respect valid court processes and decisions.

Our company resorted and continues to resort to legal remedies against MARBAI and its members and supporters who unlawfully occupied and controlled a part of HEARBCO-1's farm, including the filing of criminal cases against them.  The Tagum City Prosecutor has  dismissed criminal counter-charges  against our company's representatives.

We trust that we have sufficiently explained this matter, and will appreciate a confirmation of the receipt of this reply.