Farmers and farmworkers in Negros Occidental called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Department of Agrarian Reform to fulfill their promise to distribute land during a protest at the DAR North Negros Occidental provincial office in Bacolod City on Monday, November 6.
Lanie Factor, Task Force Mapalad national deputy coordinator, told DIGICAST NEGROS that the protest aims to press the president to continue implementing the agrarian reform program and immediately distribute lands to them as he had promised during his State of the Nation Address.
“There were many laws, special orders, and operational policy orders that were made but not implemented,” Factor said.
The about 3,000 protesters at the DAR office on Monday were from 118 haciendas in various part of Negros Occidental, she said.
They met at the Pope John Paull II tower and marched towards the DAR-North Neg. Occ. office to demand a meeting with the DAR provincial heads and executives from the central office, she added.
Factor said that about 300 farmers have occupied the DAR office in Bacolod and they will continue the protest until a meeting with the DAR officials is held.
“We hope that the president will realize his commitments to the farmers and fast-track the distribution of land,” she added.
TFM said 30,936 hectares of CARP-covered land have yet to be distributed in Negros Occidental, which is the biggest in the country.
The Marcos administration must summon the political will and impose the full force of the law in implementing agrarian reform in the province and the entire country, TFM added.*