Bid to exempt cattle land from CARP fails

BACOLOD CITY—Outgoing Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes has rejected a bid by the Negros Occidental provincial government to exempt from land reform a parcel of land that provincial officials want to use to raise cattle.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) advised the provincial government to instead apply for a land conversion permit for the 147-hectare piece of property.

The provincial government, citing DAR Administrative Order No. 1, sought to exempt from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) the land straddling two villages in Murcia town—Sta. Rosa and Calandog—to use it to raise cattle.

The provincial government bought the land for use of the Negros First Ranch.

In its application for exemption from CARP, the provincial government said 6,000 head of sheep and 100 head of cattle are on the land. The provincial government spent P49.7 million on the project.

DAR records showed the bid to have the land exempted from CARP was opposed by farmers who have staked claims on the piece of property as land reform beneficiaries.

The farmers said the use of the land for cattle-raising came only after the effectivity of CARP on June 15, 1988.

Delos Reyes agreed with the farmers. He said it was evident that cattle was introduced to the land only after CARP, which bans the conversion of land for agrarian reform, took effect. Structures for cattle raising were built after 2011 and 2012, Delos Reyes said.

It appears that almost 20 years had lapsed before the land was used again for cattle raising purposes, the DAR order said.

It was clear that the Aquelles family, the former owner of the land in question, already ceased from using the area for cattle-raising after CARP took effect, the order said.

Delos Reyes said, though, that the provincial government’s intent to use the land for the benefit of the people is undisputable.

“Yet the provincial government must be reminded that the DAR has to balance the interest of the stakeholders of the state’s agrarian reform program,” he said.