(MANILA BULLETIN)
DAR Secretary John Castriciones stressed that “we are pooling all our resources so that we could give all these properties to the landless farmers this year.”
On January 22, Castriciones led national and government officials in the distribution activity of around 80 hectares of agricultural lands to 102 ARBs held in Busuanga gymnasium.
Castriciones noted that the distribution of lands is just the first tranche of distributing the GOLs in the municipality.
He explained that with President Duterte’s signing into law of Executive Order (EO) No. 75, Series of 2019, on February 1, 2019, the DAR has quickly facilitated the process of subjecting this land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The Court of Appeals (CA) has dismissed due to procedural “infirmities” the petition of an agricultural firm to allow the exclusion of its 203.4 hectares of land in Guimaras from the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
“The interests of the peasants and landowning politicians can never be reconciled,” says one activist.
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January 22, 2021
Protesters reenact the 1987 Mendiola Massacre during a rally on Jan. 22, 2021 in Manila, Philippines. Protesters also accused the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte of responsibility for the recent killings of peasants.
Credit: AP Photo/Aaron Favila
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Thirty-four years ago today, Rafael Mariano was marching towards the presidential palace in Manila. Joined by over 10,000 others protesting for peasant land rights, he remembers trudging past Manila Central Post Office before pushing on to Mendiola Street.
“We wanted genuine reforms with free land distribution for peasants, fully abolishing the unjust arrangements of centuries prior. We looked for government officials to discuss our demands, but we found no one,” said Mariano, then a 30-year-old peasant activist.
SunStar Management meeting poised to boost agrarian reform services in NegOcc
NEGROS OCCIDENTAL. Heads of various offices under the Department of Agrarian Reform - Negros Occidental I attend the regular management committee meeting at the agency’s provincial office in Bacolod City on Thursday. (Contributed photo)
+ January 22, 2021 THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Occidental-North has conducted its regular management committee meeting, which is positioned to boost agrarian reform services in the province.
DAR-Negros Occidental I said the meeting attended by the heads of various offices on Thursday, January 21, 2021, aimed to solidify the agency’s targets for 2021, as well as revisit and assess its accomplishments last year.