MANILA, Philippines – Contrary to the claims of farm workers at Hacienda Luisita, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) will not raffle off additional hectares of land in the sugar estate.
“Some farmer groups may have been confused when the DAR office in Tarlac posted on Dec. 29 the preliminary list of agrarian reform beneficiaries of the 358-hectare Tarlac Development Corp. (Tadeco) landholding. There was no raffle conducted in that landholding, “ DAR Assistant Secretary Justin Vincent la Chica said.
“The preliminary list, as the name suggests, is merely preliminary. The public is given until Feb. 4 to inform us if we missed anyone or if we included someone in the list who is not qualified. Those listed were also asked to submit documents to prove their qualification,” La Chica said.
The Tadeco landholding in Barangays Balete and Cut-Cut in Tarlac City was not part of the land transferred to the Hacienda Luisita Inc. in 1989 through stock distribution option.
On Dec. 17, 2013, the DAR in Tarlac issued a notice of coverage to Tadeco and proceeded with the identification of agrarian reform beneficiaries. It came out with a preliminary list of 1,717 potential ARBs.