DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 15, 2011) – Farmers who are beneficiaries of the Philippine agrarian reform program have criticized a senior agrarian official for his alleged failure to implement an order that grants them authority over 29 hectares of lands in Davao Oriental province.
Felipe Neri Esclito, the group’s spokesman, accused Venchito Mandap, the provincial agrarian reform officer, of ignoring an order that will install 17 farmers in the Arcal Estate on Governor Generoso town.
“PARO Venchito Mandap has no political will and does not follow orders from his superiors and is a big stumbling block in the implementation of agrarian reform in the province,” Esclito said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner, adding the order was supposed to have been carried out Wednesday.
“After all the preparations undertaken by Department of Agrarian Reform central office and with the support of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jessie Robredo to consummate the installation, Mandap succumbed to pressure from the former landowners,” Esclito said.
Mandap called off the schedule installation after the landowners and their lawyers mounted resistance citing legal issues in the Certificate of Land Ownership Award issued by DAR.
But Esclito said police and military have guaranteed the safety of Mandap and the farmers, who were awarded their land certificates this month.
“His command to proceed was crucial in such a situation and that the PNP and Army would have certainly followed his orders,” Esclito said, adding it was the third time this year that Mandap failed to install the beneficiaries of the government program.
“It is a bleak Christmas for us especially that DAR has no set new date for installation. But we are looking forward to finally set foot on and make productive our own land,” Esclito said.
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