Farmers seek arable gov’t lands
FARMERS are calling on the government to properly distribute arable land of the state to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), according to an executive order issued by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s predecessor.
During the Duterte administration, an order was issued for all unclassified public lands and government lands that are suitable for agriculture and no longer needed to be turned over to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for distribution to qualified ARBs.
“Some government agencies seem to be flouting the clear provisions of Executive Order No. 75 issued by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in 2019,” Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) Chairman Leonardo Q. Montemayor said in a statement on Monday.
The FFF claimed that government agencies had favored large corporations to lease large swaths of land under their jurisdiction. Mr. Montemayor said that the large properties should have been used, instead, for agricultural purposes. — Adrian H. Halili