DAR identifies 15.5 hectares of CARP-ready land in Boracay

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has identified tracts of agricultural land in Boracay ready to be subjected to the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). (PNA photo)

MANILA — The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has identified tracts of agricultural land in Boracay ready to be subjected to the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

DAR Acting Secretary John Castriciones said on Monday his agency is just awaiting President Rodrigo Duterte’s official go signal to start implementing agrarian reform in the world-famous Philippine island.

Castriciones said DAR has identified some 15.5 hectares of land in Boracay ready for CARP because of the absence of structures.

The tracts of land are in the barangays of Manoc-manoc, 7.5 hectares; Balabac, 4 hectares; and Yapak, 4 hectares.

“Those areas have no structures, so we can immediately implement agrarian reform there,” he said in a media conference in Metro Manila. “It’s a tedious process but we’re prepared to do it.

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Castriciones said Boracay has other tracts of agricultural land, but these have existing structures and are thus, not readily available for distribution.

CARP was a law started in 1988 which aimed to grant the country’s landless farmers and farm workers ownership of agricultural land. It was extended in 2009 and expired in 2014.

Before departing for Hainan, China early this month, President Duterte announced his intention of implementing agrarian reform in
Boracay to benefit farmers on the island.

The government is shutting Boracay off to tourists for six months starting April 26 to rehabilitate what the President described as now a “cesspool.”

The government said water pollution, accumulation of solid waste, and structures’ encroachment on wetlands, forest land, and easement zones are among the problems plaguing Boracay.