The Department of Agrarian Reform will install today 102 qualified farmer beneficiaries in the Polo Coconut Plantation Inc. in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental.

Stephen Leonidas, provincial agrarian reform officer of Negros Oriental, said DAR Undersecretary Narciso Nieto had ordered the installation of the beneficiaries, who have been awarded Certificates of Land Ownership in 2004, and who belong to the original 147 farmer beneficiaries of the Polo Plantation Agrarian Reform Multi-purpose Cooperative and MARA.

Since the distribution of CLOAs started about eight years ago, attempts to install the farmer-beneficiaries have been delayed by near-violent confrontations between opposing groups, he said.

The plantation became controversial in the late 1990s after it was placed under the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. Its owner, former Senator Rene Espina Sr., had rejected the coverage, saying the property was not qualified for land reform as it had been declared an economic zone.

Of the 147 CLOA holders, 45 were disqualified because a petition for exclusion was filed by the ARIBA, another group of farmers claiming to be the genuine workers of the Polo Plantation, and who petitioned the DAR to include more than 100 of its members.

Leonidas said the DAR qualified 109 ARIBA members but they cannot yet be installed today pending a final order from DAR Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes. He said he has asked ARIBA members to allow a peaceful installation and to refrain from blocking the activity despite tight security preparations.

Leonidas said he also held a final coordinating conference with the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Army to deploy enough security forces to the estate to make sure that no untoward incident happen.

The PNP Negros assured it will establish a police detachment at the Polo Plantation to prevent unnecessary and unfriendly confrontations between the various farmer-beneficiaries, Leonidas said.

About 393 hectares of the plantation are covered by the CARP, and will be divided among the 102 farmers, with part of it reserved for the 109 ARIBA members and the 45 disqualified farmers as there is no finality yet in their disqualification, Leonidas said.*JFP

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