Duterte hopes next administration to continue land reform in Red areas
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte hopes his successor will continue the land reform program his administration started as one way of addressing the country's decades-long problem with poverty and insurgency.
Under his watch, government-owned lands suitable for agriculture were divided and distributed to qualified beneficiaries across the country, particularly in areas known to be infiltrated by the New People's Army.
"Kita mo ang komunista, wala nang sinasabing land reform (Look at the communists, they no longer speak of land reform). I said make the issue irrelevant so that they will finally stop shouting about 'land reform, land reform'," the President said at the joint meeting of the National and Regional Task Forces to End Local Communist Armed Conflict in Butuan City earlier this week.
"I hope that the next administration will look at what we did," he added.
Duterte reiterated that he doesn't want to fight fellow Filipinos and for the bloodshed to ensue and believes that giving the poor their own land to till will pave the way for insurgents, especially in far-flung areas, to peacefully lay down their arms and return to the folds of the law.
"I want peace with the communist, I don't want to fight. What I don't like is criminality and drugs," he stated.
The President said that he has given away "around 180,000 hectares" of government-owned lands to agrarian reform beneficiaries nationwide since issuing an executive order for the initiative in 2019.
"I believe that our continued efforts to cultivate harmony, respect, and cooperation will enable the Philippines to emerge a stronger and more peaceful nation than ever," Duterte noted.
"May we remain united in our shared efforts to bring us and the next generation a peaceful Philippines," he added.
