Task Force Mapalad members staged a rally in front of the Department of Agrarian Reform-Negros Occidental (North) Office in Bacolod City, Monday, May 29, to express their dismay at the delay in land acquisition and distribution in the province.
Lanie Factor, TFM National Deputy Coordinator, said the rally was about their dismay at the “worse land distribution implementation” in Negros and called for the agency to expedite the program.
The rally was participated by TFM members who are farmers and farm workers, agrarian reform beneficiaries, and landless individuals from Negros, who carried placards and streamers bearing their demands.
One streamer said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should fulfill his promises of land distribution to farmers, and another placard urged DAR to follow their mandate of implementing land reform to alleviate the current situation of farmers.
In a statement, TFM said DAR took its sweet time to delay land acquisition and distribution (LAD), as it appears that the department is more concerned with “land conversions and reducing the land subject to mandatory CARP implementation.”
“We demand quick action and the redemption of the President’s pledge to hasten the implementation of CARP to eliminate landlessness nationwide,” TFM Negros President Teresita Tarlac said.
The statement also said that the agency, Land Bank of the Philippines (Land Bank), as well as the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), have all failed to provide the funds necessary for landowner compensation, and no cash has been disbursed since October 2022 to pay for the land surrendered to the government or those that have been awarded to ARBs.
“The logical result of this is the resort of property to land conversions, shifting the classification of land from agricultural to commercial, or their conversion to memorial and industrial parks”, it added.
A close-door dialog between TFM and DAR provincial officailas was held afternoon of Monday. Factor said that one of the discussions was the mandate from the central office to hasten the land distribution.
DIGICAST NEGROS tried but failed to reach the head of the DAR-Negros Occidental office for their statement.
Factor said they will be holding a series of rallies in the province to continue airing their sentiments until government expedites land distribution.*