MANILA — The Commission on Audit urged the Department of Agrarian Reform to sanction its erring officer-in-charge in Batangas if the 31-year land reform issue in the province involving 64 hectares of land would remain resolved.

In the 2022 annual audit report on the DAR, state auditors took note of pending Collective Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CCLOA) dated December 28, 1992, which defeat the purpose of land tenure security for 44 landless farmers.

The audit report said the DAR Provincial Office in Batangas disclosed that the landholding is located in Bgy. Bataan, San Juan.

“These agrarian reform beneficiaries are already in their advanced age yet were not afforded land tenure security despite the lapse of over 31 years,” the audit team said.

Field validation of state auditors revealed that the CCLOA was submitted to the Registry of Deeds in 2013 and returned to the DAR Provincial Office in 2016 due to lack of original Deed of Partition.

The auditors noted that the inaction of the DAR management deprived the 44 farm beneficiaries of land tenure which could warrant the imposition of administrative sanction to the erring officer-in-charge under the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007.

The DAR management for its part agreed to the recommendation of the auditors to direct the head of its Batangas office to submit a status report and immediately resolve the matter, or impose administrative sanction to the erring officer-in-charge.

The same audit report stated that the department utilized 97 percent of its P2.613 billion funds for land acquisition and distribution but still fell short of its targets.

The physical accomplishments of the department were registered at 32.94 to 94.66 percent despite the reported high fund utilization rate.

“Thus, program objectives were not fully attained and benefits were not maximized,” the audit team said.

The audit report noted that documentation processes were among the reasons the targets were not achieved.

The report mentioned that the DAR management agreed to the recommendations of the audit team to set attainable targets taking into consideration the problems encountered in 2022.

The office of DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella received a copy of the report on July 28, 2023.