Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 17) — The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) on Friday said its task force will be posting the initial list of qualified beneficiaries of the disputed land in Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion, Tarlac.
“Maglalabas po ang Task Force Tinang ng tarpaulin doon sa areas ng Tinang kung sino ‘yung initial na mga qualified na magiging beneficiaries natin. These are more or less 177 initial na mga names,” Agrarian Reform Assistant Secretary John Laña said in a public briefing.
[Translation: Task Force Tinang will release a tarpaulin around the area with the initial names of those qualified to be our beneficiaries.]
“We are giving seven days for the people to comment and react. And then after that, kung wala silang [if they don’t have] violent reactions to that, then maybe, we can proceed with the installation of our farmers,” he added.
RELATED: Over 90 farmers and their supporters arrested in Tarlac, to undergo inquest
Laña said there are 236 individuals based on the government-issued collective Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) on September 26,1995 but upon validation, there were only 177 who were qualified.
“Marami ang nagbenta ng kanilang rights. Ang iba hindi nagtrabaho doon sa Dominican na pinanggalingan. ‘Yung iba kinonvert nila ‘yung kanilang lupa na wala namang approval sa DAR,” he explained.
[Translation: Many sold their rights. Others did not work on the Dominican origin. Some converted their land without DAR’s approval.]
The DAR assistant secretary also vowed that before the end of the month, they will be awarding the CLOA to those qualified.
“Based on the last meeting with the task force, ang aming pinag-usapan, bago mag June 30 ay dapat maindividualize na at mabigyan na ng individual CLOA ang mga tao,” he said.
[Based on the last meeting with the task force, we agreed that qualified individuals will be given their individual CLOA before June 30.]
Meanwhile, the Commission on Human Rights is also conducting its own investigation into the alleged arbitrary arrest and detention of the farmers and land reform advocates at Hacienda Tinang.
