Land distribution unfinished business

Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes: Unfinished. Photo from www.dar.gov.ph/

MANILA, Philippines—When President Aquino steps down in June 2016, the land distribution program may be left unfinished because of pending court cases, Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes admitted on Wednesday.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) could acquire and distribute some 500,000 to 700,000 hectares of land between now and 2016, but there will still be landholdings left because of legal disputes, De los Reyes said.

Congress is mulling a measure ordering the DAR to complete the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) by June 30, 2016.

As of December last year, the DAR had distributed 405,206 hectares out of the 1.2 million hectares identified for CARP since a new law extending CARP was passed in 2009.

This left a balance of 790,648 hectares, including 206,536 hectares that have not yet been subjected to notices of coverage.