DAVAO CITY — The Department of Agrarian (DAR) has vowed to hasten the distribution of the 584,000 hectares of land to the farmer-beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
DAR undersecretary for land distribution Karlo Bello said there are around 584,000 hectares of land still to be distributed to the CARP beneficiaries.
“The order of the President (Rodrigo R. Duterte) to us is to hasten the distribution,” he said during the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Annex on Monday.
In Mindanao, there will be 5,000 hectares for distribution that will benefit 2,099 farmers.
He said in this quarter, there will be a distribution of lands in some parts of Tarlac and Mindoro Island.
Duterte mandated the agency to distribute land to till to individual beneficiaries and not to groups to avoid conflict later on.
But Bello gave his disclaimer that the agency could not distribute all these properties to the beneficiaries due to some legal challenges such as giving just compensation to the landowners.
“When it comes to the privately owned lands, we have to be compliant with the constitutional requirements because it will be confiscatory if we don’t observe it,” he said.
He said there around 14,000 pending land dispute cases at their legal affairs office upon the implementation of CARP.
Bello said the agency targeted 48,000 hectares to be distributed each year for the beneficiaries.
Upon his assumption to office last year, Bello said DAR recorded 33,000 hectares distributed to the beneficiaries, which is higher than the 28,000 hectares in 2016.
“We have higher output last year but it still far from our target,” he said.
Meanwhile, DAR 11 regional director Joseph Orilla bared there are around 10,000 hectares still to be distributed from 258,000 in the whole region.
“We have 5 percent balance which is the 10,000 hectares from the 258,000,” he said. Of the remaining lands distributed, Orilla said 5,000 are doable while the other half is still problematic.
“Naa mi 5,000 nga doable, mao na ni among ginatrabaho karon para ma-distribute namo siya. Kaya namo ni siya ma- distribute in five years or three years. Pero kanang katunga pud ana, depende na na sa legal kung unsaon na (We have 5,000 which is doable, we are now working on it for distribution. We can distribute it in three to five years. But the other half which is problematic, this will depend on the decision of our legal team),” he said.
Orilla said most of the disputed lands are in Davao Oriental but he begged off to give further details. (Armando Fenequito Jr/PNA)
