DAR distributes 4 Negros sugar estates to farmers

MANILA, Philippines - Four sugar estates in Negros Occidental have been acquired and distributed by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to 244 farmer-beneficiaries.

The almost 500-hectares of property are located in the cities of Cadiz and Sagay.

The biggest landholding distributed was the Hacienda Cana-an in Barangay Mabini, Cadiz City, which covers 386.85 hectares. Of the total area, 352 hectares were divided among the farmer-beneficiaries. The rest were retained to the owners.

DAR assistant secretary for field operations Teofilo Inocencio said each of the 123 farmer-beneficiaries in Hacienda Cana-an were given almost three hectares of farm lots.

The beneficiaries belong to four farmers’ groups, including the Task Force Mapalad and Katarungan.

Aside from Hacienda Cana-an, DAR personnel also installed Sagay City farm workers to their newly-owned property in Hacienda Vicente in Barangay Bulanon, and Hacienda Rosemarie and Hacienda Susan both in Barangay General Luna.

“We hope this level of cooperation among stakeholders in the agrarian reform program will help fast-track CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) implementation in Negros Occidental and be replicated in other parts of the country,” Inocencio said.

The DAR official said the installations were meant to assist farm worker-beneficiaries in identifying and occupying their CARP-awarded lands.

Installation is crucial only in areas where tension may arise between previous landowners and qualified beneficiaries, as well as among farm workers who are affiliated with different farmers’ organizations.

“In most part of the country, the beneficiaries given Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) to assume possession of the land without the need of installation. We only resort to installation to prevent the possible outbreak of violence as a result of the land distribution,” he said.

As of January, there were still 93,000 landholdings covering 870,000 hectares that remain undistributed under the agrarian reform program.