The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) recently boasted that 2,046 Palawan residents were awarded CLOAs (Certificate of Land Ownership Award) and farm machineries. The distribution ceremony was held at the PGP Convention Center, Palawan on April 11. The department secretary himself and other high provincial officials even attended.

The CLOA distribution, in fact, is just a deceptive spectacle. An attendee said that the event was a mere “photo ops”. The CLOAs are not even named to those who received them. The land they are currently tilling is not the land indicated in the distributed CLOAs. Worse, the distribution was just recycled because the invited farmers have long been CLOA holders.

“I didn’t attend, I didn’t take the CLOA that wasn’t in my name, nor did I go participate in the photo session,” said a mother who was invited to the bogus distribution. She doesn’t want to be used in the DAR’s scam.

An official of a palm oil cooperative fell victim to the fraud and received a CLOA that did not contain his name. “The government is squandering money just to make false claims of distributing land,” he said. “Our CLOAs were distributed way back in Ramos’ time.”

DAR bussed in people for the show. The department covered the cost of the entire show, including the two-way fare of “beneficiaries” who came from distant municipalities. Food and snacks also abound. It even distributed t-shirts adorned with “Sariling Lupa para sa Bagong Bukas na Masagana” and the face of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“Obviously, Marcos Jr merely want to score brownie-points,” the farmers said.