DESPITE the enactment of Republic Act 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), hacienderos managed to keep the government from implementing the land distribution to the farmers, particularly in the province of Palawan.
Neither the President nor the court were able to compel the family behind Yulo King Ranch from executing the provisions stipulated under RA 6657, which stipulates the need to transfer ownership of vast tracts of land to the people who are actually tilling the land.
Consider this chronological sequence of events to prove my claim.
Under the Aquino administration, then Agricultural Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano vowed to distribute the controversial Yulo King Ranch (YKR) to landless farmers in Coron and Busuanga in Palawan.
Under the Duterte administration, then Agrarian Reform Secretary Bernie Cruz said that the government is all set to distribute around 800-900 hectares of agricultural lands out of the total of 2,105 hectares of lot 699-Busuanga Cadastre and a portion of the landholding known as Yulo King Ranch (YKR) to 786 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Busuanga, Palawan.
When President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.. took the helm of the Palace, he ordered Agrarian Reform Sec. Conrado Estrella III to fast track the distribution of farm lands to farmers in support of the government’s food security program.
On top of these, the Sandiganbayan has previously thrown out motions for reconsideration filed by YKR Corp. and six heirs of the late businessman Luis A. Yulo sought reversal of its June 18, 2020 resolution that upheld the sufficiency of government evidence in Civil Case No. 0024, a 35-year-old ill-gotten wealth case.
Interestingly, the Yulo property (which spans the towns of Coron and Busuanga) is under the management of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which incidentally is being headed by the heir for the late crony Jose Yulo.
Within the YKR are some 8,000 hectares of alienable and disposable lands that are the subject of request for coverage under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) by Pesante Pilipinas Inc., Federation of Free Farmers and several other farmers’ groups.
According to documents, the more or less 8,000 hectares of Yulo lands that are subject for petitions by various farmer-groups were not yet turned over to the DAR by the DENR. Therefore, the lands remain to be under the jurisdiction of the FMB of the DENR.
Although some of the lands are alienable and disposable public lands, the property can be included in the CARP, but it has to be turned over to the DAR by the DENR through a Deed of Transfer and Memorandum of Agreement first.
With Sec. Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga at the helm of DENR, there is no chance that the Palawan farmers would get what is supposedly due to them under the 35-year old law.
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