Braganza downplays NGO’s threat

A long shot.

This was how Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza described the threat aired by leaders of a non-government organization (NGO) that they would file charges of "gross negligence" against him and President Arroyo for distributing, as they claimed, 1,548 hectares of land to 2,513 farmer-beneficiaries in Davao del Norte last Monday.

Braganza said leaders of UNORKA lied to the media when they alleged that the land distribution in Davao del Norte should not have taken place since the property of Tagum Development Agricultural Co. (Tadeco) is the subject of a pending case in the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC), which the President chairs.

"This NGO does not even check their facts for accuracy. We distributed 1,684 hectares to 2,583 farmer-beneficiaries, not 1,548 hectares to 2,513 beneficiaries," he said in a statement.

He said the 1,684 hectares of land which the President distributed do not belong to Tadeco alone, but also to other landowners from Davao Oriental, Davao City and Compostela Valley, whose tracts of land were covered by agrarian reform.

The Tadeco land, he said, accounted for only 274 hectares which the President distributed to 760 agrarian reform beneficiaries.

Contrary to UNORKA’s allegations, the case involving the selection and identification of beneficiaries of the Tadeco property is pending with the DAR’s undersecretary for operations and support services, not with the PARC.

"I do not know why these NGO leaders have decided to mislead the public by feeding lies to the media," Braganza said.

He clarified that under DAR Administrative Order No. 9, series of 1998, which guides the department in distributing deferred commercial farms, DAR has the authority to generate and distribute certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) to agrarian reform beneficiaries pending appeal from affected landowners or farmers.

He said there is no basis for the charge of gross negligence on the DAR’s part because the generation, issuance and distribution of CLOAs were in accordance with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law and its implementing rules and regulations. — Katherine Adraneda