Farmers group wants probe on agrarian reform SPLIT project
FARMERS group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) on Sunday said it will ask Congress to investigate the government’s titling project for land covered by the agrarian reform program, citing unresolved cases involving the division of big farm estates.
The group said it wants to know the current progress of the Support to Parcelization of Land for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project vis-à-vis the “actual distribution of land” to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)
“While the agency is busy splitting collective land titles for the individual proprietorship of ARBS, we also want to know the status of big landholdings and estates under dispute that is pending for distribution to farmers-beneficiaries,” KMP Chairperson Danilo H. Ramos said in a statement in Filipino.
The group cited pending land cases in Tarlac province.
KMP also reiterated its proposed actions under House Bill No. 1161 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill, which aims to “break up the land monopoly” and implement a just distribution of lands.
It noted that the SPLIT project is funded through a loan from the World Bank, and “we, Filipinos, will be paying for this. We need to see the effect of this project.”
DAR Secretary Conrado M. Estrella, III said in a statement on Saturday that a Project SPLIT composite team has been created to conduct a World Bank Gap Analysis Study, which will assess interventions needed.
The team is composed of representatives from DAR and the World Bank.
The multilateral development bank lent $370 million or about P20 billion to the Philippines in 2020 to improve “land tenure security and stabilize property rights” of ARBs. The SPLIT project involves the distribution of certificate of land ownership awards for about 1.38 million hectares of land.
KMP said DAR has allocated P6.1 billion this year from the P14.39-billion total budget for the implementation of the project. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
