Suspension of ‘midnight’ Aquino order backed

MILITANT peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas on Sunday backed moves by Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Rafael Mariano to suspend the implementation of a “midnight resolution” of the previous Aquino administration that seeks the subdivision of collective Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) to individual land titles.

The group made the statement after Mariano was reported as saying that Administrative Order No. 3 series of 2016 might tempt cash-strapped farmer-beneficiaries to pawn or sell their individual farm lots instead of tilling the land, for lack of capital for farm inputs.