Lacson wants probe on anomalous CARP transfers

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Panfilo Lacson sought yesterday an investigation into allegations that several parcels of land exempted from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program have been titled to the Republic.

Lacson wants the Senate committee on agrarian reform to look into the procedure that the Department of Agrarian Reform uses to acquire and distribute lands for the CARP.

“It appears that unscrupulous individuals with spurious documents were able to title lands belonging to private individuals with the cooperation of some officials of DAR and the Register of Deeds despite failure to conform with the procedures mandated by law,” he said.

In a statement, Lacson said the modus operandi is to the prejudice of farmer beneficiaries whose ownership of the land will be disputed.

“The implementation of the agrarian reform program is being marred with numerous problems resulting in a slow pace of the distribution of lands to the farmer beneficiaries,” he said.

Lacson also said some private lands have been titled to the Republic of the Philippines and transferred to CARP beneficiaries without following procedures.

In one case, 211,500 square meters of private land in Sibulan town in Negros Oriental were titled to the Republic of the Philippines and subsequently transferred to several persons, he added.

Lacson said the transfers were made despite the fact that the registered owners were not notified of the hearings undertaken by the Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer.

Neither were they furnished copies of the Investigative Report of MARO regarding the property, he added.

Lacson said it appears that the Department of Agrarian Reform had overlooked the fact that the property lies within a geothermal reservation per Proclamation 1413 of President Ferdinand Marcos.

“It was sustained by Executive Order No. 223 of President Corazon Aquino which exempts it from the coverage of CARP,” he said.

The private owners of the land were deprived of their ownership and possession through a “surreptitious and highly questionable proceeding” undertaken by the DAR’s Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer, Lacson said.