LAST week, Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones announced that at least 13 officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR) Cebu provincial office would be facing criminal and administrative charges for failing to distribute hundreds of certificates of land ownership awards (CLOAs) and emancipation patents. The documents — covering 1,637 hectares — had been discovered in two sacks in the Cebu office. The oldest CLOA dates back to 1987 while the most recent bore registration dates from 2020. Some 3,391 undistributed land titles were also recovered.

This was appalling news; not least for those of us who have been involved in agrarian reform advocacy. Though one could hardly be surprised, considering stories from years past about Cebuano politicians asking DAR officials not to touch certain lands, mayors advising landowners to ignore notices of coverage, landowners filing harassment suits against DAR personnel who were doing their jobs and land conversions putting agricultural land beyond the reach of land reform coverage. Land reform was never a priority for Cebu’s political leaders for as long as I can remember.

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