(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the faster distribution of government lands to qualified beneficiaries, saying he wanted to “give everything to the people” in the next three years that he is in office.
Duterte gave the directive to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). He ordered the government agency to prioritize the distribution of government-owned lands which were not being used, including the ones in the mountain areas to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs).
The President said he would speed up the distribution of lands in the remaining three years of his term which ends in 2022.
“I still have three more years. I will give everything to the people, especially lands owned by the government which are not being utilized. I already ordered [DAR Secretary John] Castriciones to give the land to the people,” the President said using a mix of Bisaya, Tagalog, and English languages, during the ceremonial distribution of more than 3,000 certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) to some 2,500 beneficiaries in Sagay City.
During the event on Friday, March 8, President Duterte led the ceremonial distribution of 3, 423 CLOAs to representatives of 2, 495 beneficiaries in Barangay Kauswagan.
The President said he is simply enforcing the law, in doing so, citing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) which is being implemented by the Philippine government since the administration of former President Corazon Aquino.
“Pero for the remaining three years nako — naa pa man koy three years — hutdon gyud nako‟g hatag sa mga tao. Ang una nakong targeton (target) ang gobyerno. Yuta, yuta sa gobyerno. Wa man ni kapuslanan. Kay ang mga bukid nanagbaw, nauna pa ang [unclear]… Except for the military reservation na dako kaayo na ilang area. Wala man diha sa bukid. So ihat — ingnan nako si Castri — ihatag na na. Ihatag na na sa tao kay mao nay problema nato (For my remaining three years, I will give away all government-owned lands to the people. They are of no use to the government anyway. The mountains are very vast. Except for the military reservation. Their area is very large. But there’s nothing like that in the mountains. So I instructed Castriciones to give the lands away to the people because that is one of our most pressing problems),” the 73-year old Duterte said during his speech.
Duterte said that armed rebellion in the country would not be over if land reform would not be hastened.
“Actually kaning giyeraha ni di gyud ni matapos. Dili ni matapos until makahatag ta og gamay luna, lote sa mga tao nga gahandom nga mga anak nila… Mao gyapoy ilang sitwasyon ug sila mao puy nakuha nila sa ilang amahan. (This war will never end if we don’t give them land. These people dream of a better life for their children, better than their life and the life of their forefathers),” he said.
Duterte, a former mayor for 23 years in Davao, observed that problems on land distribution had hounded the government’s land reform program ever since the agrarian reform law was implemented during the time of the late president Corazon Aquino.
“Kani, dili ni ako. Di ko muangkon nga ako. Kani kang Cory ni. Human na man ang land reform. Ang problema ang distribution muhinay kay naay mga tao kahibaw ka na, dili gustong buhian ang yuta. (This program isn’t mine, so I’m not going to claim it as my own. This is Cory’s. The land reform has already been done but the problem is the distribution. It wasn’t being fast-tracked because you know that there are people who refuse to let go of the lands,” the Philippine leader pointed out.