About 50 landless Negros Occidental farmers carrying “broken hearts” made of red cartolina staged a post-Valentine protest today, February 15, against what they called the failure of the Duterte administration to fulfill its promise of completing land distribution under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The farmers belonging to the peasant federation Task Force Mapalad (TFM) staged their protest-rally in front of the provincial office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Dawis, Bacolod City.
“You’ve broken our hearts, our dreams, Mr. President, because you failed to deliver what you promised,” Teresita Tarlac, president of TFM’s Negros-Panay Chapter, said.
The TFM farmers were apprehensive to hold a rally amid the pandemic, but extreme hunger aggravated by the sharp increase in the prices of basic commodities made them decide to go out and hold a rally to tell Duterte of their plight, Tarlac was quoted as saying in a TFM press statement.
“Hunger and the lack of adequate nutrition will make us vulnerable to illnesses, which in turn will make us susceptible to Covid-19.
We have no other choice but to fight for our right to land, to our right to food and nutrition, so we can shield ourselves from diseases, including Covid-19,” she said.
“President Duterte has to see CARP as the most viable solution to our problem. He must give us our land now,” Tarlac added.
President Duterte in North Cotabato on January 2020 reiterated his vow to complete the CARP’s land acquisition and distribution (LAD) component within his term, particularly in Negros Occidental, the province with the biggest LAD balance nationwide, the TFM statement said.
However, according to TFM, it is clear from the records of the DAR itself that there is a big credibility gap between what Duterte promised and what the department does.
“While the DAR has been projecting to the media that it is doing its job, the truth is the current administration does not only have low and unmet land distribution targets. It is also, on record, the worst CARP implementor in terms of LAD since the land-to-the-tiller program started in 1988,” said Tarlac.
Data from the DAR show that in 2020, the department was only able to distribute 18,789 hectares (has.) of agricultural landholdings nationwide or nearly 40 percent short of its 30,154-hectare target for last year, the TFM said.
“The nationwide LAD balance is still about 500,000 hectares. If the DAR’s LAD target is only over 30,000 hectares yearly, how can the CARP be LAD-free by 2022? At 30,000 hectares yearly, it would take the DAR over 15 years or three more administrations after the
Duterte administration before it completes land distribution nationwide,” Tarlac said.
“Worse, missing the target means land distribution will be forever or never,” she added.
From 2016 to 2020, or during the last five years under the Duterte administration, its total LAD accomplishment nationwide was only 142,806 has., according to TFM’s computation based on DAR data.
“That total LAD performance is just equivalent to a yearly average accomplishment of 28,561 hectares – the lowest ever in the history of CARP, ” Tarlac said.
From 2010 to 2015, or during the first five years of Benigno Aquino III’s presidency, the DAR distributed a total of 525,151 has. of agricultural landholdings under the CARP, or an annual average of 105,030 has., based on data from the DAR, TFM said.
“The DAR, under the Duterte administration, can’t say that Covid-19 is the culprit in its very low LAD accomplishment because its performance has always been anemic since 2016,” Tarlac said.
TFM said there are many landholdings, especially in Negros Occidental, which has the biggest LAD backlog among the provinces nationwide, that are already in the pipeline, needing just a few paper works before these can be distributed to their tillers.
“The DAR and other CARP-implementing agencies have already finished surveying these landholdings. The field work required for these estates to be acquired for CARP has already been accomplished,” Tarlac said.
DAR officials could not be reached for comment as of press time.*