Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman yesterday said a decision on whether 65 other identified farmer beneficiaries of Hacienda Malaga Velez who are members of Task Force Mapalad are legitimate or not is expected to be made soon.

On March 22 Pangandaman installed 57 of 122 farmer beneficiaries on part of 144 hectares of the farm amid heavy security from the police and Army.

Cuenca and the 198 farmer beneficiaries associated with him opposed the move.

Pangandaman said as soon as a DAR ruling on an inclusion/exclusion petition is issued we will install those who are declared legitimate beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, TFM in a press statement yesterday, said Cuenca continues to fool the public by claiming that he does not resist the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program but only wants to ensure that his farm workers will not be deprived of their right to own land. TFM president Jose Rodito Angeles said that if Cuenca did not resist CARP, the land dispute in Hacienda Velez-Malaga would not have occurred.

TFM was reacting to a recent statement by Cuenca that there was collusion between TFM and the Department of Agrarian Reform in the installation last March 22 of TFM-affiliated farmer-beneficiaries.

Angeles said Cuenca could have followed the examples of landowners like the Jalandoni family and even former Governor Rafael Coscolluela, whose landholdings were placed under CARP but no land disputes occurred because they cooperated with the Department of Agrarian Reform in ensuring the distribution of land to farmer-beneficiaries.*

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