President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered a “rebirth” of land reform in the country, as he directed the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to launch what he described as a second phase of the program. Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones on Thursday echoed the instructions of the President, for the government to pursue an “aggressive” land reform program that will help alleviate the life of poor Filipino farmers. This includes the over 500,000 hectares of undistributed lands under the old law on Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (Carper), which was terminated in 2014. The President on Wednesday said he is exasperated over the apparent failure of the agrarian reform program to attain its objectives to help farmers over the years. For the second phase of the agrarian reform program, Castriciones said the DAR is eyeing to cover mainly military reservations and lands occupied by state universities and colleges that have been left idle.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer May 04, 2018 14:26 UTC