NEWS RELEASES
Reply to the “DAR Report to the President” and to the article of Dean Antonio La Vina of the Ateneo School of Government
We refer to the DAR Report consisting of two parts namely (I) Report on the Land Acquisition and Distribution Aspect of Agrarian Reform, January 2013 and (II). On Issues Raised by the CBCP Letter, as Reported in the Media, and to the Article of Dean Antonio La Vina with respect to the crisis at the DAR over the issue of the DAR performance under Sec. Gil de los Reyes and the call by farmer groups and the CBCP for a revamp of the DAR leadership.
‘Hayaan mo, Nay’
It was a promise that encouraged Vargas, and saw her through the next eight months. Despite her continuing travails, she said she continues to be grateful for the President’s personal attention. His promise has certainly made an impact on her, in part because of his choice of words. His promise has been translated thus: “Don’t worry, I will help you.” But Mr. Aquino used the (very Filipino) plural form of you (“kayo”), indicating respect. He called her “’Nay.” And his use of “hayaan,” to mean “let” or “leave” (that is, let it be or leave it to me)—instead of, say, the more literal forms of “don’t worry” in Filipino—made the promise more emphatic: “You leave it be, Mom, I will help you.”
TFM asks President Aquino to order DAR to install farmers in 671 hectares less contentious lands
The 12 landholdings were included in the list of “doables” submitted to the Multi-Sectoral Task Force (MSTF) meeting facilitated by Secretaries Florencio “Butch” Abad and Juliana “Dinky” Soliman on February 8, 2013. The MSTF is a mechanism created by President Aquino after the dialogue with Task Force Mapalad on June 14, 2012 in Malacanang.
ENGAGEMENTS
Farmers-beneficiaries put a signage after the 148-hectare former Arroyo family-owned Hacienda Bacan in Isabela, Negros Occidental was awarded to them under CARP on June 28, 2011. (Photo: J. Domingo/TFM)
Farmers have their heads shaved to dramatize their protest against the exemption of large estates from the agrarian reform program in Davao Oriental. The exemption order came from DAR Regional Director Yusoph Mama whom the farmers also asked to resign. (TFM Photo)
After more than 30 years of struggle, 249 farmer-beneficiaries of the 50-hectare part of the Ocaya Ranch in Maramag, Bukidnon, Philippines are installed in their land in a ceremony on February 22, 2011. (Photo: John Louie dela Victoria/TFM)
