On eve of Valentine’s Day, Duterte urged to have a heart for landless peasants
“Listen to your heart of hearts. Get to the heart of the land reform problem, which is in Negros Occidental.”
Thus said some 500 farmers belonging to national peasant federation Task Force Mapalad (TFM) as they urged President Rodrigo Duterte to complete the distribution of agricultural landholdings placed under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program by starting it in Negros Occidental where the bulk of the CARP balance is found.
Carrying heart-shaped placards on the eve of Valentine’s Day, TFM farmers on Wednesday trooped to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Provincial Office in Region 6 on San Sebastian Street in Dawis, Bacolod City and held a picket-rally there to dramatize their grievance over the non-movement of landholdings that are supposedly already up for distribution but are not yet in the hands of CARP beneficiaries.
“You promised farmers last year that there will be a rebirth of agrarian reform in the country and your administration will be more aggressive in its implementation of the program. We are still pinning our hope on your promise. We also hope that you will start that ‘rebirth’ in Negros Occidental by ending land monopoly and the rule of powerful hacienderos here,” said Teresita Tarlac, president of TFM-Negros.
‘Let’s first Du the #30’
TFM said the Duterte administration, through the DAR, could complete CARP in Negros Occidental by starting to distribute 30 landholdings in the province that are already in the pipeline.
The many steps required for the CARP acquisition and distribution of these 30 landholdings, covering around 900 hectares, are almost complete and only await issuance of certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) to about 1,000 farmer-beneficiaries, according to TFM.
But these landholdings remain stuck in the DAR or are pending at the Registry of Deeds (ROD) despite the absence of any bottlenecks to their distribution, the organization said.
“There is no more reason to slow down or impede CLOA issuance in these landholdings. But the landlords’ grip over these estates remain tight amid the DAR’s lack of political will to award these to their tillers,” said Tarlac.
“We hope President Duterte will use his commanding power to hasten the distribution of these 30 landholdings. Let’s first Du the #30, President Duterte! End our plight by ending landlord rule in Negros!” the TFM farmers shouted, during the picket-rally at the DAR provincial office, combining the chief executive’s shortened surname (Du30) and the #30 that journalists use to indicate the end of a story.
Among the biggest properties included in the 30 Negros Occidental landholdings that are already ripe for CLOA issuance but remained “parked” at the ROD are the following:
- 132-hectare ANCAR estate in Brgy. Cubay, La Carlota City
- 120-hectare Hacienda Bilabil in Brgy. Tuguis, Hinigaran
- 98-hectare Hacienda Rosarito in Brgy. Caridad, La Carlota City
- 57-hectare Hacienda Lopez Panganiban in Brgy. Jerusalem, Cadiz City
- 50-hectare Hacienda Mirasol Lourdes in Brgy. Andres Bonifacio, Sagay City
- 47-hectare Hacienda Calamnisan in Brgy. Rumirang, La Carlota City
- 35-hectare Unson Farm in Brgy. Andres Bonifacio, Cadiz City
- 23-hectare Hacienda Maria Luisa Solis in Brgy. Busay, La Carlota City
- 22-hectare Hacienda Oscar Ascal in Brgy. Magsaysay, Cadiz City
- 20-hectare Alaja Agro Corp. estate in Brgy. Payao, La Carlota City
ROD’s ministerial duty
Tarlac explained that when land claims in favor of farmer-beneficiaries finally reach the ROD, the said agency is already duty-bound to cancel the landowners’ title, transfer the titles in favor of the Philippine government, and register the CLOAs in favor of the CARP beneficiaries.
Section 9, paragraph 2 of Republic Act 9700 or the CARPER Law states that the ROD has this ‘ministerial duty.’
It means that part of the agency’s obligation as mandated by law is to ripen the tillers’ right over a CARP-covered land by registering the CLOA and issuing the same to the farmer-beneficiaries, according to TFM.
“In fact, there is no more stumbling block such as landlords’ stiff resistance to the awarding of these 30 landholdings to farmers. The estates are already in the hands of the government. All it needs to do is to hand over the farms to their tillers through CLOAs. So why is this being stalled?” said Tarlac.
And even when the CLOA is not yet issued to the farmers, but the landholding is already under the control of the DAR because its title is already transferred to the Republic of the Philippines, the department is already duty-bound to ensure that the CARP beneficiaries will already be given usufructuary rights to the land as mandated under R.A. 9700, TFM explained.
Section 9, paragraph 3 of the law states that, “Identified and qualified agrarian reform beneficiaries, based on Section 22 of Republic Act No. 6657, as, amended, shall have usufructuary rights over the awarded land as soon as the DAR takes possession of such land, and such right shall not be diminished even pending the awarding of the emancipation patent or the certificate of land ownership award.”
“The Duterte administration should have had more agrarian reform gains in terms of land distribution as there are already many landholdings that are ready for CLOA issuance. What we don’t understand is why the land claims are not moving despite the fact that the landholdings are already ready for distribution,” said Tarlac.
Lowest accomplishment in CARP history
Data from the DAR show that the Duterte administration, in its first two years in office, had the lowest CARP land distribution accomplishment since the Cory Aquino administration started CARP in 1986.
A total of 63,202 hectares of CARP-covered agricultural landholdings was distributed to farmers under the present administration from 2016 to 2017.
The highest land distribution accomplishment was recorded in the first two years of the Ramos administration. It was able to distribute to CARP beneficiaries a total of 679,341 hectares in 1992 and 1993.
The second highest accomplishment was during the first two years of the Estrada administration wherein a total of 269,427 hectares was distributed from 1998 to 1999.
This was followed by the administration of President Benigno Aquino III with 222,069 hectares from 2010 to 2011; by the Arroyo administration with 215,983 hectares in 2001 and 2002; and by the Cory Aquino administration with 114,259 hectares in 1986 to 1987. -END-
