A team from the Center for Land Use Planning and Implementation of the Department of Agrarian Reform will be in Negros Occidental Wednesday to inspect the land at the boundaries of haciendas Ilimnan and Arloc in Murcia town, where the Negros First Ranch is located.

Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer for northern Negros Occidental, Teresita Mabunay, said the inspection is one of the requirements before CLUPI could grant the petition filed by the provincial government to exempt the land from Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program coverage.

Mabunay said the inspection will last for two days after which, the CLUPI will decide whether to grant the petition for exemption or not.

The 151 hectares of land is also being claimed by several farmer-members of the National Federation of Sugar Workers, who have been appealing to DAR to issue their Certificate of Land Ownership.

However, Jose Maria Valencia, Provincial Legal Officer, earlier said that the provincial government will not give up its ownership of the contested land.

DAR records show that the agency had issued a notice of coverage on the contested land under CARP in 2012, although, in the same year, the provincial government filed a petition for exemption from coverage after it purchased the property from the original owners.*APN

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