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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Friday, February 24, 2017
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ILOILO City – Seventy-one-year-old agrarian reform beneficiary Salvacion Mijares was teary-eyed while being installed on a piece of land in Barangay Igbong, Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo that finally now belongs to her.
She was one of 96 farmer-beneficiaries installed yesterday by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) on a 185-hectare land previously owned by F & C Agro Commercial Corp. in Barangay Igbong.
It was such a relief for Mijares and the other beneficiaries. This was actually the fifth time DAR installed them since 1997 but due to threats, they did not stay long on the land.
“We have not set foot on this land for 20 years. We were always turned away,” Mijares told Panay News.
The beneficiaries were all farm workers.
“We hope this would be the last installation,” said Mijares.
According to Harriet Ariete Loot, chief of DAR-Iloilo’s Land Tenure Improvement Division, the beneficiaries were frequently harassed in the past so they never actually took possession of the land awarded to them under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of the government.
“We are hoping that the beneficiaries themselves will unite and fight for their rights. They should not leave their awarded lands or our installation will again be useless,” said Loot.
In the Writ of Installation dated Feb. 16, 2017, Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Sally Ortega noted that the 96 Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) holders have not taken actual possession or cultivated their awarded lands since the issuance and registration of the titles due to threats and other forms of harassment.
Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer Alfred Beare of Barotac Nuevo confirmed the harassment in a report dated Sept. 9, 2016. He then recommended for the issuance of a Writ of Installation to protect the rights of the agrarian reform beneficiaries.
“The names of the CARP beneficiaries have been described in CLOA-TCT No. 6310 duly registered at the Registry of Deeds of the Province of Iloilo on Dec. 15, 1997 yet and remain valid and uncancelled up to this time,” part of Beare’s report read.
The Writ of Installation was served by Sheriff Van Dexter Alegario of the Provincial Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (PARAB) with the assistance of officers from the DAR Provincial Office.
Security was tight during yesterday’s installation. The Jaro Archdiocesan Social Action Center protected the beneficiaries together with elements from the Barotac Nuevo police station, Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) Intelligence Unit, 3rd Maneuver Platoon, Regional Public Safety Battalion, and 301st Brigade and 61st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army.
Policemen will be posted in the area for quite some time to protect the beneficiaries, according to Loot.
During the four previous installations, a community police assistance center was put up in the area but when the cops left after six months, the beneficiaries left due to threats./PN
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