DAVAO CITY (January 24) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday gave ultimatum to officials and employees of the Department of Agrarian Reform “To fast track land conversions or face dismissal.”
Duterte who attended the annual assembly of Provincial Union of Leaders Against Illegalilty (PULI) at the Quezon City Convention Center emphasizedn“Sabi ko, if it takes you two years to process a paper, a conversion there, you are up to corruption. I told them one month. Ano ba naman… Bakit mo patulugin ang papel? Kung ‘di pabalik-balikin mo ‘yung tao.”
Duterte hinted that some government officials or employees are dilly dallying the processing of documents in the hope that applicants will give in “something” as they perceive things would be easier when some considerations are given while their transactions are in progress.
Slowing down the process, according to Duterte, means slowing down the process which is equivalent to “causing disorder” through corruption, which disrupts “law and order” in the country.
For the land reform program to be of the government to be fully realized, Duterte said, DAR should start to assess all government-owned lands in Quezon that could be given to landless farmers.
He stressed, “Alam mo sinabi ko sa military pati sa pulis at sabihin ko na lang sa inyo lahat, we can never solve this problem in the Philippines unless we are able to tackle the issue of land reform.”
The President also cited that there is no reason for the government to hang on to vacant lands when it can be utilized to satisfy the fundamental desire of every Filipino – to own an estate.
“Kaya dito unahin ko. If there’s still government lands, pag-aralan na lang ninyo ‘yung mga agricultural on the — itong uphill. I will — within the three years of my remaining ibibigay ko sa inyo lahat ‘yang lupa ng gobyerno dito,” he added.
Duterte graced the assembly of more than 10,000 PULI members to show his commitment and support to the program, which aimed at making the people of Quezon more informed, empowered, and committed stakeholders in the fight against criminality and other social ills.
The PULI concept initiated by the provincial government is in line with the Community Mobilization Project of the Philippine National Police in connection with the government’s thrust to combat criminality in the country. -Editha Z. Caduaya/NewsLine.ph
