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BACOLOD City: After seven years of legal wrangling and fighting
bureaucratic red tape, farmers seeking the distribution of the
hacienda of President Gloria Arroyo’s family, Hacienda Bacan, in
Negros Occidental expressed hope that they may be issued
certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) sometime next month,
reported Panay News.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the
Land Bank of the Philippines finally reached an agreement to proceed
with the long-pending valuation of the property.
“The farmers are very hopeful because the
valuation would pave the way for the generation and issuance of
CLOAs,” said Jose Rodito Angeles, president of the peasant
federation Task Force Mapalad (TFM).
Early this month, the farmers staged a lighting
rally in front of Malacañang to demand that Arroyo speed up the
land reform process in Hacienda Bacan. They reminded her of her
promise to them seven years ago yet.
In a meeting with farmers on Tuesday, DAR and
Land Bank agreed to conduct an ocular inspection of the 157-hectare
hacienda, located in Barangay Guintubhan, Isabela, on April 29 to 30
prior to issuance of the valuation.
Hacienda Bacan, owned by Rivulet Agro-Industrial
Corporation, was placed under coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program (CARP) in 1996 through compulsory acquisition, but in
2001 Cong. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, President of Rivulet
Corporation, offered the property to CARP under the voluntary offer
to sell (VOS) scheme.
The sale of the property to CARP was approved by
the board of directors of Rivulet Corporation.
DAR prepared a claim folder which it submitted
to the Land Bank for valuation of the property, but the Land Bank
returned the claim folder to DAR, saying that some documents showed
that First Gentleman Mike Arroyo was the property owner and it
should be annotated in the hacienda’s title.
But in a notarized Declaration of Trust issued
by the First Gentleman in October last year, he disclaimed any
interest in the property and allowed Rivulet Corporation to sell the
hacienda to CARP.
Angeles said DAR and Land Bank are already in
the process of correcting some deficiencies in the documents
contained in the claim folder of Hacienda Bacan.
“We are happy that after seven years of
waiting, the 67 farmer-petitioners, 30 of whom belong to TFM, have
good reason to hope for the best. The CARP process in Hacienda Bacan
has resumed and DAR and Land Bank are doing their best now to
facilitate the distribution of the property,” said Angeles.
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