Agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) of the 11 former Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. haciendas in Negros Occidental welcome a move by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Central Office directing the field validation of the 4,654-hectare landholdings involving 1,756 ARBs.
“It could finally clear the way for parcelization after nearly four decades of deferment, corporate control, and bureaucratic delay,” a press release from Task Force Mapalad (TFM) said on Monday, Sept. 14.
The affected Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) holders said the directive is a significant positive development because the DAR Central Office (DARCO) expressly placed the field validation within the “continuation of parcelization activities” under DAR Administrative Order No. 2, Series of 2024, the press release stated.
TFM stressed that the directive did not emerge in isolation. It followed two earlier dialogues between TFM leaders and senior DAR officials in which the Department’s leadership agreed that the parcelization of the Cojuangco haciendas should proceed.
TFM commended DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III and Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Napoleon Galit for demonstrating the decisiveness and political will needed to move the decades-old case forward.
However, the farmers remain wary of whether that direction will be faithfully carried out by the DAR in Negros, whose previous positions, they said, have favored continued collective control over the haciendas rather than the parcelization and installation sought by the CLOA holders.
“This is a welcome move from the DAR Central Office. But after everything these farmers have gone through, the measure of success is not another validation, report, or proceeding. The measure is whether the CLOA holders finally get their own parcels and actual possession and control of their land,” TFM-Negros Chapter President Teresita Tarlac said.*
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