This Week’s Milestones: Oct. 27 – Nov. 2, 2019

Oct. 28, 1898

Martin Delgado, known as Tan Martin, led an uprising and seized the municipal building of Sta. Barbara in Iloilo province. The revolutionaries, who were from Barangay Tungay, also attacked other municipalities and eventually liberated all towns of Iloilo, except La Paz, Molo, Jaro and Iloilo City.

Delgado was a young teacher who served in the local government and was later appointed captain of the “voluntarios” (volunteer militia) of Sta. Barbara.

He then became the general in chief of the Ejercito Libertador (Liberating Army) who laid the ground for an armed uprising against the Spanish authorities.

On Nov. 17, 1898, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Visayas was inaugurated in Sta. Barbara.

Oct. 31, 2018

A total of 2,331 certificates of land ownership award (Cloas) were distributed to some 3,400 agrarian reform beneficiaries in Northern Mindanao region in a ceremony held in Cagayan de Oro City.

President Rodrigo Duterte led the distribution of the Cloas, which cover at least 5,800 hectares in Northern Mindanao.

The Duterte administration has vowed to finish all land acquisition and distribution by 2022.

More than three decades since the agrarian reform law was enacted during President Cory Aquino’s administration, the government has yet to complete the distribution of agricultural lands to landless farmers, as there are still more than 600,000 ha of land waiting to be turned over.

Compiled by Kathleen de Villa, Inquirer Research