Task force to resolve Negros land dispute

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has a created a task force that will determine and identify the beneficiaries of a 316-hectare agricultural land in Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental.

DAR Secretary Rafael Mariano will lead Task Force ABC after Malacañang remanded the case to his office as two farmer groups claimed they are the beneficiaries of the property previously owned by the MJ Lacson Development Co. Inc.

Mariano named Marcos Risonar Jr. as his deputy while Elmer Distor will lead representatives of the Bureau of Land Tenure and Bureau of Agrarian Legal Assistance  as well as DAR’s field operations and legal offices.

 In a six-page decision, the Office of the President said Mariano should determine the eligibility of the 98 farmers, who occupied the property in March 2013.

Malacañang apparently found the beneficiaries not eligible under Sections 22 and 22-A of Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.

Section 22 identifies the qualified beneficiaries while Section 22-A sets their order of priority.

Under the law, seasonal farmworkers and other farmworkers, actual tillers or occupants and their cooperatives  will be given lands only after  agricultural lessees, share tenants and regular farmworkers received their shares.