Lopezes give up 365-hectare Negros sugarcane plantation

PONTEVEDRA, Negros Occidental — The family of the late former Vice President Fernando Lopez has given the government’s agrarian reform program a big boost when it volunteered to have its 365-hectare sugarcane plantation here distributed among 185 former tenants.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan led the farmer-beneficiaries into the vast Hacienda Casalagan Duitay in Barangay Antipolo during their installation, in the company of the former Vice President’s grandchildren, Benjamin Lopez and Alejandro Montelibano, and some local agrarian reform officials and personnel.

Pagdanganan cited the full cooperation of the Lopez family for the trouble-free installation, which he said is very rare in the province known to many as the last bastion of landowners opposed to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The Lopezes voluntarily offered to sell their property in a letter sent to the DAR in September 2000, two and a half years after the department sent a notice of coverage, informing them that their property, valued at P67.73 million, was being placed under CARP coverage.

They also expressed their interest to lease back 28 hectares of the property for five years, starting from April 1 this year.

The leaseback agreement is subject to approval of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council and will be arranged and finalized immediately after the farmer-beneficiaries’ installation.