Those land titles were not among the 25 titles covering 4,500 hectares that were placed under compulsory acquisition by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in 2005. The acquisition was upheld by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Committee in 2008 and the Supreme Court in 2012, according to the compliance report of the DAR to the high court. An Inquirer source said lands at Central, located in Tarlac City, were exempted from the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program through an order issued by former Agrarian Reform Secretary Rosalina Bistoyong. John Milton Lozande, Uma secretary general, said CAT may have been “emboldened” by DAR’s Executive Order No. 1, which makes it “easier for landlords to convert their lands for nonagricultural uses and escape land reform.”Read NextLATEST STORIESMOST READ

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer February 26, 2019 21:11 UTC