G.R. No. 79310 [July 14, 1989]PLANTERS' COMMITTEE, INC. et al., petitioners,

vs.PRESIDENTIAL AGRARIAN REFORM COUNCIL, respondents.

FACTS

Landowners and sugar planters in the Victoria Mills District in Negros as well as Planters’ Committee, Inc., seek to prohibit the implementation o the PP131 and EO 229 for being violative of the Constitutional provisions on just compensation, due process and equal protection.

Subsequently, the National Federation of Sugar Planters (NASP), Manuel Barcelona and Prudencio Serrano filed their own petitions, which also assailed the abovementioned statutes.

ISSUE

Whether or not the CARP fund provision in PP No.131 conforms to the requirements of a valid appropriation.

HELD

No. PP No.131 is not an appropriation measure even if it provide for the creation of the said fund, for that is not the principal purpose. Appropriation law is one where the primary and specific purpose of which is to authorize the release of public funds from the treasury. The creation of the fund is only incidental to the main objective of the proclamation, which is agrarian reform.