ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — A total of 175 farmers in Capiz province were finally installed on land totaling 188 hectares awarded to them by the government more than two decades ago. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) led the installation of members of Montecarlo Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (Montecarba) on the properties in Pilar town in Capiz on Tuesday. Malacañang’s order also upheld the May 15, 2017, order of then Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano that declared that while the 1997 issuance of the CLOA violated procedures under the comprehensive agrarian reform law, the landholding was still validly covered by agrarian reform. Remembering sacrificesLawyer Maria Cecilia Maquirang, who represents the farmers, said they offered the farmers’ victory to the memories of Orlando Eslana and Eliseo Banico. Banico died of natural causes in one of the campouts of the land beneficiaries to press for their installation.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer May 16, 2021 20:37 UTC