‘Land reform programme has stopped’
Published on: Sunday, May 26, 2019
MANILA: Much as he wanted to give more land to the landless, President Duterte (pic) said government has reached its limits in distributing land. The land reform program, he said, has stopped.
“I support the land reform program. I gave out the most titles – almost 60,000 hectares. I want to give out more. But the land reform program has stopped. We no longer cannot acquire,” the President said in a speech in Davao City.
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Although he made a promise to give out land to the people, he expressed regret that they won’t be as rich as their ancestors.
“To those who won’t be able to own lands, well then I’m sorry, you cannot be as rich as your forefathers because of the limitations now imposed by law,” he added.
Duterte renewed his warning to groups like Kadamay not to resort to land grabbing following this development or he will have them arrested, including a certain “Atty. Mahinay.”
“Just like the Kadamay. I’m warning you about your style of grabbing properties. I have directed law enforcers to arrest you, including this Atty. Mahinay,” Duterte said.
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He chided the New People’s Army (NPA) for promising land to the people as if it was that easy.
“They think they are the only ones who can do it, they do not even have the capabilities for it,” Duterte said.
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“If you cannot handle land reform properly it will breed trouble. But you have to explain patiently,” he added.
Early this year, Duterte promised to give government lands to the people, directing Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones to expedite the process and distribute all available government land to the people within his term.
“I told Secretary Castriciones to distribute all government and farm lands during my term so they could be made productive. No one is standing in the way, anyway,” he said last February.
Duterte advised land reform beneficiaries to take care of and cultivate the land that was given to them because the food products that will be coming from those lands can be exported.
“What I want is for rich Filipinos to invest in agriculture,” he said.
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