Farmers urge DAR to revoke order, compromise deal on Batangas land dispute

A farmers group on Monday urged the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to revoke a consolidated order and compromise agreement that directs their removal from 1,300 hectares of Hacienda Roxas in Batangas.

The farmers, through the assistance of Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra), argued through a petition that both the consolidated order and the compromise agreement had supposedly violated Republic Act No. 6657 (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law or CARL), as amended by Republic Act No. 9700 (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reform or CARPER).

“Since time immemorial, these farmers have been cultivating their land. It goes against the basic precepts of justice, fairness, and equity to deprive them, through no fault of their own, of the land they till,” the farmers said. 

“These laws mandate the acquisition and distribution of agricultural lands to the landless tiller. CARL is a social justice legislation and as such, whether agricultural land is covered in its provision, is not subject to compromise,” they added. 

The farmers stressed that the DAR had supposedly failed to assess the effects of their order on the farmers of the hacienda and the community as a whole.

To recall, it was on December 29, 2023 when DAR issued a Consolidated Order splitting 50-50 the 2,938 hectares of land registered under Roxas and Company Inc (RCI). These parcels of land, all located in Nasugbu, Batangas, were placed under CARP. 

Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) were already issued to the agrarian reform beneficiaries of the land. However, the RCI filed a protest and applied for their conversion into other uses. 

In February, the DAR announced that each of the farmer-beneficiaries would be given individual parcels of land under the compromise agreement between the farmers and the RCI.

Secretary Conrado Estrella III had said that one-half of the property, which was estimated to be 1,322 hectares, will be distributed to some 1,200 farmers. — BM, GMA Integrated News