DAR to Luisita farmers: Be patient

Manila, Philippines -  Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes has appealed to farmer-beneficiaries in Hacienda Luisita to be patient because the process of confirming their legitimacy as beneficiaries in the controversial landholding is a tedious task.

He said they found out that around 1,000 farm workers from the original list already passed away, therefore there is a need to conduct interviews with their wives, husbands and children.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is finished with the first round of interviews and is looking forward to the second round to commence on July 30.

“There is a need to subject those who were already interviewed to a second round of interviews so that the list will really reflect the true beneficiaries. Those interviewed the first time, it’s not yet final. I foresee after the first, that there would be two more rounds of interview,” the DAR chief said.

He added that by August or September they would issue a preliminary master list of beneficiaries.

“We will be open to complaints from those not included and even those who were included if there is any,” De los Reyes said.

The preliminary master list will be made available to the public, particularly to interested parties who may wish to seek inclusion and exclusion of names that made it to the list.

De los Reyes expressed confidence that the department could meet its self-imposed deadline of identifying the potential beneficiaries in Hacienda Luisita within three to four months due to the computerization of farm workers’ database.

A report from the DAR’s Management Information System indicated that a total of 8,482 farm workers underwent field interview and screening of credentials as of June 29.

The DAR began the process of beneficiaries’ identification, screening and validation with a massive information campaign at the 10 barangays of Hacienda Luisita last May 18, after DAR lawyers received a copy of the final and executory decision of the Supreme Court ordering the distribution of the country’s biggest sugar plantation to farm workers who were tilling the land as of Nov. 21, 1989.

The list of 6,269 beneficiaries submitted to the Supreme Court is not yet final, DAR said, citing need for verification.