Militant group Akbayan on Monday criticized the supposed last-minute plan to convert from agriculture to industrial the 157-hectare Negros Occidental land owned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's family.
In a statement, newly-elected Akbayan Rep. Kaka Bag-ao stressed that the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms Law (CARPER Law) that was enacted in August 2009 prohibits agricultural land conversion.
"Even up to her final days in office, President Arroyo remains corrupt and manipulative. Instead of doing something decent for people to remember her by, she opted to do what she has always done as president since day one – manipulate, maneuver and co-opt," Bag-ao said.
GMANews.TV tried to reach deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar for comment, but he could not be contacted as of posting time.
Two weeks ago, or about two weeks before Mrs. Arroyo bows out of office, the President's family had supposedly filed before the Department of Agrarian Reform an application to exempt Hacienda Bacan in Isabela, Negros Oriental from agrarian reform.
But a VERA Files report quoted lawyer Ruy Rondain as saying that the Arroyos had filed the application years ago, denying that its planned conversation was a last-minute move.
Hacienda Bacan, a sugar plantation that has belonged to the Arroyo family for decades, is registered to Rivulet Corp. that is chaired by Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio "Iggy" Arroyo, brother of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.
However, farmers group Task Force Mapalad had alleged that President Arroyo's husband owns the controversial hacienda.
The Arroyos own about 500 hectares of land in Negros Occidental. Aside from Bacan, these include Haciendas Grande, Fallacon, and Manolita.
According to the VERA Files report, Hacienda Bacan is supposed to be in the final stages of CARP coverage and the request to distrbute the land to more than 60 farmer beneficiaries is pending. — Sophia Dedace/RSJ/KBK
