AGRARIAN CASE RESOLUTIONS. Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estella III (right) reports increased resolution of agrarian cases under the Marcos administration, during an interview at the Malacañang Insider on Thursday (Aug. 22, 2024). He said the DAR posted a 92.2 percent resolution rate for all of its caseloads from July 2022 to July this year, equivalent to 116,718 cases resolved out of the 126,581 caseloads nationwide, with an average of 4,863 cases resolved per month. (Screengrab)
MANILA – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) reported Thursday a higher resolution rate of agrarian or land dispute cases under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
“We are about 46 percent higher than their case resolved. Iyong case resolution rate namin ay napakataas (Our case resolution rate is very high),” DAR Secretary Conrado Estella III said during the Malacañang Insider, citing slower case resolution during the previous administration.
“Zero backlogs daw. Noong kami ang nag-take over, zero backlogs ba iyong may mga sampung taon nang nakabinbin iyong kaso, 30 years na nakabinbin iyong kaso? Hindi ata zero backlog iyon (They claimed they had zero backlog. But when we took over, is it considered zero backlog when you have pending cases for 10 years, 30 years? That’s not zero backlog),” he said.
Based on its latest report, the DAR posted a 92.2 percent resolution rate for all of its caseload from July 2022 to July this year.
This is equivalent to 116,718 cases resolved out of the 126,581 caseloads nationwide, with an average of 4,863 cases resolved per month.
Estrella said the resolution of these cases, which include vintage disputes, was expedited through the efforts of the 63 newly hired DAR lawyers under Marcos.
“Bakit bumaba ang kaso? Iyong mga hinire naming lawyers na nagpupunta sa iba’t ibang regions, doon pa lang inaayos na nila (Why did the cases decline? Because the lawyers we hired went to the regions and resolved the cases there),” he added.
Accurate reporting
Estrella, meanwhile, assured accurate reporting of the DAR’s distribution of certificate of land ownership awards (CLOAs), contrary to the allegations of some.
“Kasama namin ang Pangulo, sa tingin mo ma-magic-kin namin ang datos namin (We are with the President, do you think we could magic our data)? That’s impossible, especially with a very meticulous president, like our President now,” he said.
He added that available data from DAR may be compared with the figures from the Landbank of the Philippines.
“Magmula ng administrasyon ng ating mahal na Pangulong (Since the assumption of our) President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ay naging masyado na kaming conscious at talagang nag-a-update kami ng mga datos natin kasi iyan ang isa sa mga problema natin (we became very conscious and we really update our data because that has been one of our problems before),” Estrella said.
The DAR has distributed 136,116 CLOAs to 138,718 agrarian reform beneficiaries since July 2022.
This is higher than the previous administration's 17,640 land titles distributed in 15 months.
The department, meanwhile, aims to distribute 101,666 remaining land titles to ARBs nationwide before the year ends.
Overall, it is set to distribute 800,000 more CLOAs under the Marcos administration. (PNA)
