Luisita beneficiaries sold, leased lots: DAR
>> Tuesday, May 2, 2017
TARLAC CITY -- Around
83 percent of farm workers in Hacienda Luisita are not cultivating the
land awarded to them.
A fact-finding inquiry
conducted by a team from the Department of Agrarian Reform showed that the farm
lots awarded to around 4,000 farm workers in the sugar estate were either
leased or sold. The DAR team interviewed 5,031 agrarian reform beneficiaries.
Marcos Risonar Jr.,
Luisita task force chairman and DAR undersecretary for field operations, said
2,800 beneficiaries rented out their lots while 600 sold them to third-party
buyers.
Agrarian Reform
Secretary Rafael Mariano ordered the inquiry to check the status of the awarded
lots and determine potential areas for acquisition and distribution by the
government.
A report of the DAR
team mentioned “influential personalities and politicians” as among those who
bought or leased the lots.
Illness in the family
and lack of funds to support agricultural production were among the reasons
cited for the conveyance of the land. Beneficiaries were not aware of a 10-year
prohibition on the lease and sale of awarded land, the report said.
At least 2,000
beneficiaries in Barangays Mabilog, Pando and Motrico in Tarlac City rented out
their lots. A majority of the beneficiaries in Barangay Pando said a “prominent
political clan” in Tarlac is renting their lots for P7,000 a year.
Beneficiaries in
Barangays Cutcut ll and Mapalacsiao have the most number of lots sold.
Only 117 of 236
beneficiaries in Barangay Bantog are using their lots for agricultural
purposes.
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