DAR Central Office cascades Administrative Order No. 2 S. 2023 to strengthen Executive Order 75 S. 2019 implementation in Mindanao

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Central Office’s Bureau of Land Acquisition and Distribution (BLAD) has recently concluded a 3-day orientation on the issuance of Administrative Order No. 2 S. 2023 regarding the guidelines on the implementation of Executive Order No. 75 S. 2019 for the Mindanao island group at Kawa Resort, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte.

This activity, which ran from July 1-3, 2024, is aimed at developing a shared understanding on the salient provisions of AO 2 S. 2023. As such, this cascade was attended by key officials and representatives from regions IX, X, XII, and XIII.

DAR Caraga Regional Director, Atty. Merlita S. Capinpuyan expressed, “We encourage everyone to actively engage in discussions, seek clarifications, and share your insights. I hope that by the end of this event, you will leave with a comprehensive understanding of the administrative order and a renewed confidence in your roles as its implementers.”

EO 75 S. 2019 is a special issuance as it gives way for the possible ownership of land to agricultural lessees or share tenants, farmworkers, and the like – but by also paving the way for agricultural graduates, retired military, uniformed, and non-uniformed personnel, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and even rebel returnees to become landowners.

Under EO 75 S. 2019, it provides that, “DAR shall acquire all lands devoted to or suitable for agriculture, which are owned by the departments, bureaus, offices, and instrumentalities of the Government, and which are no longer actually, directly, and exclusively used or necessary for the purposes for which they have been reserved or acquired for the purpose of eventual distribution to qualified beneficiaries.”

And as stated in the provisions of DAR-DOJ Joint Administrative Order (JAO) No. 07 S. 2019, as also stated in AO 2 S. 2023, DAR shall undertake the vital role as lead agency in EO 75 S. 2019’s implementation.

Further, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., on his first State of the Nation Address on July 25, 2022, has already set his goal by focusing on the expeditious completion of EO 75 S. 2019, by explicitly directing DAR to expedite EO 75 S. 2019, which at the time had