THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) will be distributing land titles to 450 families after settling the Hacienda Tinang case in Tarlac which has been pending for three decades. DAR Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Napoleon Galit said during a public briefing on Friday that the conflict was between two groups of farmers. 'Not even a single farmer appealed from the [two] groups. That is why we are now in the execution stage. We are now distributing the land titles,' Galit said. He said 360 titles will be given to the first group of farmers while 90 will be given to the other group. He added that the win-win solution was under the directive of the government. The resolution of the land dispute is expected to boost the administration's food security program as farmer beneficiaries could now till their lands. Galit also said that they were able to resolve 1,000 of 3,600 pending agrarian cases under the present administration. He also thanked the Department of Budget Management (DBM) for approving the creation of additional 63 positions for Attorney 4 in 63 DAR provincial offices, with a salary grade of 23 to augment the DAR's legal workforce. DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella 3rd said that resolving all pending agrarian-related cases and providing legal assistance to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and non-beneficiaries is one of their major concerns. 'The early resolution of agrarian cases will always be our top priority for it will not only spare us time, efforts, and resources but also ease the tensions in the countryside,' Estrella said.
