Posted on April 04, 2012 07:03:56 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has announced 35 more landowners set to be covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
In a notice of coverage published by the department in a national broadsheet yesterday, 141 pieces of land owned by 35 corporations, organizations and individuals have been placed under CARP coverage under Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
The total land area announced in the new notice came to 2,600.83 hectares.
Seventy of the properties are located in Negros Occidental, 55 are in Quezon province, nine are in Bulacan, two are in Pampanga, two in Occidental Mindoro, and one each in Cagayan, Batangas and Zamboanga Sibugay.
Covered lands in Negros Occidental come to a total of 1,412.31 hectares, while the properties in Quezon province cover an area of 643.71 hectares.
The Bulacan landholdings cover 159.97 hectares, and properties in Pampanga come to 51.01 hectares. The two properties in Occidental Mindoro come to a total of 16.88 hectares.
For Cagayan, Batangas and Zamboanga Sibugay, the individual properties were 250 hectares, 41.13 hectares, and 25.82 hectares, respectively.
Some of the properties in the notice of coverage are owned by the Bank of the Philippine Islands, the Development Bank of the Philippines, the Philippine National Bank, the Philippine Veterans Bank, the Chateau de Manila Development Corp., and International Hardwood and Veneer Company, among others.
Majority of the other lands listed were under the names of private individuals.
According to the DAR’s announcement, lands covered by the notice must submit the following within 30 calendar days from the publication of the notice:
• a manifestation to retain a portion of the landholding and sketch map of the entire property with delineation or shading or any general indication of the area the landowner intends to retain,
• a list of names of nominated children as preferred beneficiary/ies,
• a list of tenants, lessees, and/or regular farm workers,
• a manifestation to apply or petition for exemption or exclusion or protest from CARP coverage
Non-submission of any of the above petitions, lists or manifestations will be considered equivalent to a waiver from the landowner.
The DAR is targeting the distribution of 240,248 hectares of land under the CARP for this year, from the remaining 921,962 hectares still up for redistribution.
The program covers a total of 1.034 million hectares of land. As of 2011, the department had 264,880 hectares.
The department had earlier said that 60,503 hectares were already in the advanced stage of acquisition as of February and will be redistributed this June.
The lands in the new notice of coverage are among the properties comprising 73% of the balance of landholdings up for redistribution by June 2013 under the first, second, and third phases of the program, which cover all properties above 10 hectares in area.
CARP is slated to end in June 2014. -- Bettina Faye V. Roc
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