"This directive will trigger a crisis and create chaos in the countryside."

This was the statement of Centro Saka Inc. (CSI) after discovering that the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has directed its personnel to defer all land acquisition and distribution (LAD) activities under compulsory acquisition (CA) regardless of the stage of implementation. The directive was issued by DAR in compliance with Joint Resolution No. 19 of the Senate and Congress.  

"We cannot understand why DAR jumped the gun and issued an operational directive like this when Joint Resolution No. 19 has yet to be signed into law. Officially, President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo can still veto Joint Resolution No. 19," explained CSI Executive Director Omi Royandoyan.

Joint Resolution No. 19 was passed by the Senate and adopted by the House of Representatives to ostensibly extend the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for another six months until June 30, 2009. The Joint Resolution allows only the distribution of lands under the voluntary offer to sell (VOS) and voluntary land tranfer (VLT) schemes and removes the distribution of new lands under the compulsory acquisition (CA) mode of distribution.

Royandoyan pointed out that the DAR directive was even worse than the joint resolution since it defers the processing of all lands under CA, including those already in the pipeline. "The joint resolution should not be applied retroactively and should only cover those lands targeted for compulsory acquisition in 2009," he added.

CSI urged DAR to immediately withdraw their directive pending the passage into law of JR No. 19. "At the very least, DAR should clarify that the directive should not be applied retroactively and would only be effective for the next six months until the JR lapses in June 30, 2009," said Royandoyan.

"We hope that DAR will immediately issue a clarification. This directive could be used to stop land distribution and could even be misconstrued to mean halting the implementation of the agrarian reform program," Royandoyan added. "We fervently hope that this directive will not result in violence in the countryside."

For further information, contact Menchie Flores-Obanil at 9287464 or 9266607