Farmers want DENR boss sacked

MANILA, Philippines - A group of farmers in Southern Mindanao has called for the resignation of Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-Region 11 Director Yusoph Mama for his alleged failure to fully implement the government’s agrarian reform program by approving the exemption of large estates in Davao Oriental amid the ongoing process of coverage under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The farmers belonging to the Davao Oriental Farmers and Farmworkers Alliance (DOFFA) demanded the resignation of Mama following what they called as “series of illegal actions” in exempting the 244-hectare Hacienda Bitoon and the 285-hectare Hacienda Bitanagan owned and managed by the Rabat Family in Mati.

However, Mati City Mayor Michelle Rabat clarified that the disputed property is not owned by her father, the late governor Francisco “Paking” Rabat, but by her uncle Pablo Rabat and of the Rocamoras. She also insisted that the properties of her father had long been placed under CARP.