The Provincial Agrarian Reform Office is investigating the complaints of agrarian reform beneficiaries in three farms in Barangay Buenavista , Murcia , about anomalies in the distribution of land by barangay and municipal agrarian reform officials.

PARO Teresita Depeñoso was reacting to the complaints of 24 Barangay Buenavista beneficiaries who picketed in front of her office yesterday morning and went to the Capitol to seek help from Acting Gov. Isidro Zayco.

Zayco said he would ask the PARO to act on the matter, and advised the complainants to also furnish a copy of their complaints to Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman.

The DAR should act on this because it is their obligation to prevent such conflicts, Zayco said.

The beneficiaries claimed that there were anomalies in the distribution of land in their barangay involving its Agrarian Reform Council chairman, Rolando Alimpuyo, and Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer, Efren Alcantara in Murcia .

Depeñoso said Alcantara is no longer the MARO of Murcia, and is assigned to Valladolid and Pulupandan.

The complainants asked the PARO to return to the “true beneficiaries” the land given to others, for an investigation of the BARC and MARO, the imposition of penalties, and for adequate support services.

In Hacienda Nabalila, formerly owned by Freddie Villanueva that covers about 100 hectares with 30 beneficiaries, they said the sizes of land given beneficiaries are not the same.

Ernesto Garcia Sr. also told Zayco he has not been able to occupy the land awarded to him in Hacienda Nabalila despite having paid the land tax on the property. He claimed that this is because Divina Alimpuyo, wife of the BARC chairman, who is not a Certificate of Land Ownership Award holder and not a worker of Hacienda Nabalila, is occupying it.

When he raised the matter with Alcantara, Garcia said he was told he had no right to the land because he was old already. He has not been able to occupy the land for six years, he added.

Angelo Especie has been occupying Lot 166-B for six years because Freddie Labordo has positioned himself on the lot due him, the complaint also said.

Labordo is not a CLOA holder but a cousin of Alimpuyo, the complaint added.

The complainants said they have brought their concerns to the MARO, PARO and DAR regional office but no action has been taken.

In Hacienda Tres Marias, formerly owned by Lorenzo “Larry” Benedicto, that covers 33 hectares with 18 beneficiaries, the agrarian reform beneficiaries said they paid a surveyor to conduct a survey but before it was completed the MARO released a CLOA and parceliary map.

Alimpuyo took 1.20 hectares of the property and Lot 331 was given to Rolando Abay, who is not a worker at Hacienda Tres Marias, the complainants said.

In Hacienda Tres Hermanos, originally owned by Antonio de Leon, the complainants said the BARC chairman also allocated a lot to his younger brother Richard Alimpuyo who is not a worker of the farm or a CLOA holder.*CPG

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