No missing 900 hectares in Luisita – DAR official

MANILA, Philippines -  All farm lots covered by the Supreme Court (SC) directive on the Hacienda Luisita case will be distributed to qualified beneficiaries, a Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) official said yesterday.

“There is no missing 900 hectares as alleged by Ambala (Alyansa ng Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita),” said DAR Undersecretary for Operations Joe Grageda.

Grageda said Ambala could have based its computation on the Notices of Land Valuation and Acquisition (NLVAs) that the DAR posted, as required by law, in all barangays in Hacienda Luisita.

He said these NLVAs represent only the initial landholdings valued by Land Bank and covering around 3,300 hectares.

“The documentation for the remaining area will be completed as soon as the segregation plans prepared by a private survey firm hired by DAR are approved by the Land Registration Authority. The Land Bank will then finish the valuation of the remaining lots as a matter of course, after which DAR will also post the NLVAs for these landholdings,” he said.

Grageda said the survey firm had conducted consolidation and subdivision surveys on a total of 5,149 hectares.

Of those surveyed, 500 hectares of converted area and 80.51 hectares covered by the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway were not subject to distribution based on the SC’s final decision in the case.

At least 468.49 hectares was excluded from distribution because these portions were used as residential areas, canals, roads, firebreaks, cemetery, buffer zones, lagoons, fishponds, and legal easements or are eroded.

Grageda said these would still be covered by the agrarian reform program for the common use of qualified beneficiaries.

Minus the common areas, Grageda said a total of 4,099 hectares of farm lots would be distributed to more than 6,000 qualified beneficiaries.

He said the DAR had just finished finalizing the mechanics for allocating farm lots for qualified beneficiaries.

Grageda said what remains to be completed are lot allocation, generation of land titles and certificates of land ownership award, and the actual distribution of land.