Negros farmers remind Aquino on promise to distribute land

President Aquino: ‘Unfulfilled’ promise

MANILA, Philippines—Farmers on Tuesday slammed President Aquino over his alleged failure to fulfill his promise of distributing lands to them with only a year left before the expiration of the agrarian reform program.

One of the farmers, Dorita Vargas, was among the 300 farmers assured by Aquino last year that she would get land within 2012.

But Vargas, a 63-year-old widow, said that while she already received a certificate of landownership award (CLOA) last February, she has not set foot on the five-hectare farm given to her and other agrarian reform beneficiaries in La Castellana town in Negros Occidental.

Vargas said the land she was supposed to share with 13 other farmers, was located right in the middle of a 126-hectare private property that has remained the subject of a dispute today.

“Heavy security imposed by landowners prevented us from reaching and cultivating our property,” she told reporters in a forum in Manila.

“DAR (Department of Agrarian Reform) has not formally installed us in the land. What will we do with the CLOA if we do not physically control the land?” she lamented.

Bishop Broderick Pabillo, chairman of the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA), the social action arm of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Philippines (CBCP), claimed that the Aquino administration has yet to distribute nearly 1 million hectares of land.

“The current Aquino administration is the worst performer as far as land acquisition and distribution since the CARP was launched by the Cory Aquino administration,” said Pabillo as he cited Department of Agrarian Reform records.

CARP was launched by the late President Corazon Aquino in 1988 as the centerpiece of her social justice promise to ease widespread poverty and remove one of the major causes of a simmering communist insurgency. It was extended for another five years in 2009 with a total allocation of P150 billion and is now called CARP extension with reforms, or Carper.

When President Aquino took power, the government still had to distribute a total of 1,209,236 hectares to landless farmers, Pabillo said.

“From July 2010 to December 2012, Malacañang was able to distribute only 251,876 hectares (representing a measly 21 percent) leaving a balance of 957,360 to be given away until the Carper funding expires in June 2014,” Pabillo added.

Vargas recalled that she was among those who personally met with the President last year to discuss the issue.

“But ever since we were given the CLOA in February, DAR has not acted to remove the hindrances to our installation,” she said.

“We’re hoping that the government would help us get installed in the land that is ours and benefit from the land that is now registered in our names,” Vargas added.

Vargas said she and her fellow farmers would mobilize in Negros and Mindanao on June 10 to mark the anniversary of Carper.

“We’re hoping something positive will happen after that,” said another farmer, Rodito Angeles.

Meanwhile, advocacy group Sulong Carper, in its May 28 letter to President Aquino, reminded him to make good on his promise to the 300 farmers.

The group reminded Aquino that most of the six agreements forged during the Malacañang meeting in 2012 had not been fulfilled.

“During the said meeting, the President promised: 1) to fully implement CARP by 2014 and directed DAR Secretary to address precedent-setting cases raised in the dialogue; 2) the issuance of notices of coverage (NOCs) before July 2013; 3) allocation of P30 billion annual budget for CARP;  4) the immediate release of P1 billion, of which P300 million was allocated for Negros; 5) mobilization of the military and police to ensure peaceful installation of agrarian reform beneficiaries; and 6) review of the much-criticized Administrative Orders by the DAR and civil society organizations.”

“With barely a year towards 2014, the ending year for the extended CARP funding period, the situation is fast becoming untenable….this has pushed farmers to ask whether Aquino is serious in pushing the completion of CARP or not,” the group said.