President Rodrigo Duterte is hated by Communists. But there is something very Communist in the way the President is responding to the victims of calamities and that is to give away idle government lands in their favor.
In the light of the recent devastation brought about by super typhoon Odette, President Duterte has renewed his call to give unused government-owned lands to the poor. The proposed action will include those displaced by the recent typhoon that hit the Visayas and Mindanao. Pronto, the President directed the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to ensure that idle government-owned lands are distributed “within the next few months”.
Most of those affected by the typhoon were “marginalized” and “very poor” and had no other place to go.
As of last count, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that Typhoon Odette has caused over P28 million worth of damage in 506,404 houses; more than P16 billion worth of damage to 276 infrastructures, and over P5 billion worth of damage to agriculture. In sum, over 300 cities and municipalities in Visayas and Mindanao were placed under a state of calamity.
Given the figures, the President’s proposition is that if the government decides to rehabilitate a community, the government better give identified idle lands to the people right away for as long as they qualify and the process is followed.
