Resolve land disputes, DAR regional offices told

The Department of Agrarian Reform ( DAR) has ordered its regional offices to immediately resolve disputes involving highly contested landholdings to prevent attacks on farmers.

Reports reaching the DAR main office cited the killing of activist farmer Edwin Catog, 45, by motorcycle-riding men on his way to the market in Pantukan town in Compostela Valley.

Catog was said to be a member of the Hugpong sa mga Mag- uuma sa Walog Compostela and a supporter of the Madaum Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association Inc. (MARBAI) in Tagum City.

The victim earlier joined a protest action of MARBAI, which has a long running dispute with Lapanday Foods Corp. over the ownership of a 145-hectare farm in Barangay Madaum.

On Feb. 11, a farmer from President Roxas town in Capiz was killed and four others were wounded in a shooting, also allegedly due to a land dispute.