DAR exec willing to go to jail for agrarian reform

In the midst of fierce resistance of landowners on the installation of farmer-beneficiaries, the undersecretary for operations of the Department of Agrarian Reform said the agency will not be intimidated by those who block the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Undersecretary Rolando Mangulabnan said he will not be threatened by CARP oppositors. "They can even sue me or bring me to jail if they want to. That’s how they threaten the FBs (farmer beneficiaries). And I am ready for that. I can even join the FBs in prison. But we are following the rule of law. There is nothing illegal in the installation of FBs. This is what the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law mandates us to do. Physical installation of farmer-beneficiaries is an integral part of the CARP."

Mangulabnan said the DAR would just be fooling itself and FBs if it goes on distributing certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) but will not install the farmers in the CARP-acquired landholdings.

He explained that under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, FBs who were already awarded of their CLOAs are already the legal owners of CARP-acquired landholdings. "Under R.A. 6657, the CLOA is not a simple paper but is the evidence of ownership of land by a beneficiary registered under the Torrens System of Registration."

He added: "Therefore, if an FB is already the owner of the land, he has every right to occupy the property and make it productive. What else would be the legal right of the former landowner in blocking the FB’s entry, if he is no longer the owner of that land?"

Mangulabnan deplored the former landowners’ blocking to the occupation of FBs in their own properties. "The situation is really strange, if not bizarre. Where can you find an individual, already considered a trespasser blocking the owner from entering his own property?

He said that in Negros Occidental, many FBs who are already owners of CARPed lands were deprived of their right to occupy their own properties due to stiff resistance of former landowners.