Landholdings that have been previously offered for distribution under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, through the voluntary offer to sell and voluntary land transfer schemes may no longer be distributed, after all, as landowners begin withdrawing their offers, Task Force Mapalad said in a press release yesterday.

TFM president Jose Rodito Angeles, in the press release, said this was confirmed by officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform in a hearing Tuesday by the House committee on agrarian reform to determine the status of CARP implementation.

Angeles said DAR Undersecretaries Narciso Nieto and Renato Herrera admitted during questioning by the committee led by Apayao Rep. Elias Bulut Jr. that some landowners have indeed withdrawn their VOS and VLT landholdings from CARP. The officials, however, failed to cite the areas where the withdrawals occurred, prompting the House committee to order them to submit a report, he said.

He said this is one of the expected dire results of the Joint Resolution No. 19 passed by Congress on December 17. By disallowing new compulsory acquisition, the landowners are now emboldened to defy land distribution, he said.

He warned that unless this problem is promptly addressed by Congress, it may affect the peace and order situation in the countryside as farmers and landowners are bound to clash on the issue, the press release said.

He urged DAR Secretary Nasser Pangandaman to withdraw his Memorandum No. 09-01804 issued January 12 ordering DAR officials to defer the processing of compulsory acquisition, including landholdings already in the pipeline, and survey activities for lands under CA until further notice.*

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