Many and diverse issues and challenges related to the implementation of the agrarian reform program were discussed and tried to get resolved during the consultation conducted by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and PRDCI among agrarian reform beneficiaries in Janiuay, Iloilo on March 9, 2006.

Several of the issues were discovered to have been caused by the problematic implementation of the agrarian reform law. Mostly, investigation of cases was not done efficiently and accurately, like the land titles, survey and valuation of the property, how many and who are the legitimate beneficiaries. Worse, most of these cases have long been reported as accomplished by the DAR.

There was the case of beneficiaries of a large property in barangay Tuburan who have already been given their certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) but have not yet been installed as the new owners because the original owner filed a protest and motioned that installation should be postponed pending the resolution of the case. The beneficiaries are being required by the municipal treasurer to pay real estate taxes because they are now the registered owners of the property.

Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer (PARO) Rudy Huderial told them, “Go stand up and assert your rights.”

But because of their latent regard for the original owner, they are hesitant to do so.

In barangay Pangilihan, there is the case of 24 registered beneficiaries with only 18 of them as actual cultivators. They asked to be given individual CLOAs, but six are not in actual possession. They are asking where the other six ARBs will be installed.

There is another case in barangay Tambal where the ARBs have been given their CLOA but the administrator of the property continues to collect rent from them. DAR legal counsel Atty. Stephen Cadete recommended that the ARBs should not mind the administrator and instead deposit their money with the Land Bank as their amortization for the land.

“It is even possible that the original owner is not aware of this continued taxation,” he said.

The son of the original landowner, Mr. Lutero, is now living in the United States.

In barangay Canauili, the case is that of the land given up for distribution was discovered only recently to have been mortgaged by the original owner with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and DBP required that the loan should be paid first before the legitimate beneficiaries can take full possession of the property. Their question, how should the loan be paid and who should pay for it?

The positive result of the consultation was that these problems were finally brought to the attention of DAR and Land Bank so they could make the necessary concrete actions to help the beneficiaries.

PARO Rudy Huderial was quick in setting schedules for consultation meetings between the concerned ARBs and landowners, and asking the LBP for a deadline to make a clear valuation of the properties in question.

The consultation was a significant help to the beneficiaries because it is never easy for them to go and visit the DAR office on their own to consult about their agrarian problems. Otherwise, they would have to leave their homes early in the far-flung barangays and go to the DAR office in their municipalities, most of the time only to find that the MARO has gone somewhere else. The MARO usually has three municipalities under his jurisdiction and is busy attending to agrarian cases of different beneficiaries out in the field.

With the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) set to end by 2008, DAR itself is cash strapped and does not have a wealth of resources, especially legal counsels, to handle the remaining cases that actually have just dragged on for years due to lack of proper attention.