BACOLOD CITY – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has finally installed 30 farmers affiliated with the militant Task Force Mapalad at landholdings of former congressman Herminio Teves in Sta. Catalina town and Bayawan City in Negros Oriental.
The DAR move came 10 years after the farmers received their certificates of land ownership award.
Nineteen farmers were installed in Barangay Caranoche in Sta. Catalina and 11 others in Barangay Villareal in Bayawan.
It proceeded without a hitch, as the Teves family vowed to take the issue before the proper forum. The Teveses are questioning the land valuation, which they claimed to be unjust.
The installation was led by DAR Region 7 director Rodolfo Inson, together with assistant regional director for operations Eliasem Castillo and provincial agrarian reform officer II Grace Fua, among other officials.
Police extended assistance to the DAR based on a directive from Camp Crame dated Nov. 7 to Chief Superintendent Ronald Roderos, Region 7 police director.
Last week, the impatient farmers forcibly entered the disputed areas, an act which the DAR officials criticized, saying the Task Force Mapalad assured them that they would wait for the Camp Crame order. – Antonieta Lopez