ILOILO CITY—A group of farmers in Banate town, Iloilo province, has sued officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for failing to install them as beneficiaries of land awarded to them nine years ago under the government’s land reform program.
“We have waited for so long to finally till the land given to us by the government but, up to now, we are still deprived of the right to possess something we already own,” they said in a complaint filed in the Office of the Ombudsman Visayas here on June 3.
Sally Ortega, provincial agrarian reform program officer, withheld comment on the case, saying she had not received a copy of the complaint. But she said the installation process for the complainants was “proceeding.”
The six-page joint administrative complaint was filed by 10 farmers—all recipients of certificates of land ownership award (Cloas)—with the assistance of Jaro Archdiocese Social Action Center. They were among the 34 holders of Cloas covering 44 hectares of land in Barangay (village) Libertad in Banate.
They accused nine DAR officials in Iloilo of “acts of omission” for the “unexplained delay and nonimplementation of the writ of installation.”
Eva Ala-an, one of the complainants, said the DAR implemented only a “partial installation” of the awardees to land covering 8 ha despite the registration of the Cloas with the registry of deeds on June 28, 2005. She said the DAR officials had repeatedly promised to expedite their case.
“We have complied with and met all requirements as beneficiaries. But after years of meetings and dialogues, they have not installed us,” Joemarie Flores, another complainant, told the Inquirer.
In a phone interview, Ortega acknowledged the delays “due to procedural issues and exclusion petitions.”
The complainants asked that the DAR officials be placed under preventive suspension while their case was pending.
Named respondents were DAR regional director Alexis Arcenal, legal officer Francisco Canones, DAR Adjudication Board sheriff Bonifacio Trayvilla, Rexinor John Demogena (chief, provincial legal assistance division); provincial agrarian reform officers Enrique Paderes, Gideon Umadhay Jr. and Ricardo Fernandez, and the municipal agrarian reform officers of Banate and Anilao.
According to the complainants, a compromise agreement between the DAR officials and the landowner was forged on
July 3, 2012, with the condition that the installation of those with pending petitions for inclusion and exclusion as beneficiaries be held in abeyance in exchange for the dropping of cases against the officials.
The agreement was done without their consent, the farmers said.
They pointed out that the DAR issued a writ of installation on Oct. 10, 2013, but this has also not been implemented.
“Communications fell on deaf ears. We are deprived of the public service we deserve,” they said.