Duterte to place rebel-infested Masbate under land reform 

President Rodrigo Duterte.  (Photo from an RTVM video)

MANILA, Philipines – President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday vowed to place Masbate, a hotbed of insurgency in the country, under land reform.

In a speech in Dimasalang town in Masbate, Duterte ordered Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones to implement land reform in the province.

“Is he here? Tell him to come here and look at Masbate, place it under land reform,” he said during the “Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay” event there.

He said he has been going around the country to distribute certificates of land ownerships to agrarian reform beneficiaries, saying he had ordered Castriciones to focus on land reform in areas where landlords and tenants are hotly contesting lands.

The President said he would implement land reform in the province even without the intervention of communist rebels.

“I will place Masbate under land reform. Believe me, with or without the communist,” he said.

According to him, the land reform issue in the country would not be solved using bullets.

“‘Di matatapos ang away na ito kung ipadaan natin sa bala kasi matagal nang nagdusa sa lupa. Somebody has to do it,” he said. /kga