The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has allowed the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to open 64 slots for lawyers with basic salary of around P82,000 in a move to attract more people from the legal profession to join the department in settling land dispute-related legal battles in favor of the farmers.
DAR Secretary Condrado Estrella III issued the statement after the recent in settling the three-decade-long landownership issue of Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion, Tarlac, which he said, highlighted the need for the department to hire more lawyers.
“Ang problema namin, kaya hindi kami makaarangkada ay kulang kami sa mga abogado (Our problem was we can’t hasten the progress because we don’t have enough lawyers),” said Estrella.
“We can only hire lawyers initially na ang suweldo is only P50,000 and it will be difficult for us to hire credible and capable lawyers with only P50,000 a month. So, what we did in the Agrarian Reform is that iyong mga positions that are unfilled ‘no, we embarked on a crash—we abolished these positions and we went into a—we merged some of these positions and then we created other positions with higher salaries,” he explained.
The official thanked the Department of Budget and Management for giving them the opportunity to produce more positions.
“Out of these unfilled positions, kami ay pinayagan ng Department of Budget and Management – kami’y nagpapasalamat sa kanila – iyong Scrap and Build Program namin ay we were able to produce 64 positions for Attorney IV with a salary of P82,000 (Out of these unfilled positions, we got permission from the Department of Budget and Management–and we’re truly grateful–with our Scrap and Build Program, we were able to produce 64 positions for Attorney IV with a salary of P82,000),” he stated.
“That’s why there is reason for us to be optimistic,” he went on.
Estrella also called for lawyers who would like to fill in the positions, noting that they are welcome to work with the department as long as they share values with the agrarian reform department.
“Kaya kung mayroon man kayong mga kamag-anak diyan who are honest and would like to work with the ‘Department of Away ang Reklamo’, I am inviting you to come to our office (So if you have relatives there who are honest and would like to work with the ‘Department of Away ang Reklamo’, I am inviting you to come to our office),” he said.
With the resolution of the Hacienda Tinang issue, Estrella said it may start distributing titles to farmers in two weeks.
The DAR chief said their decision on Hacienda Tinang is now final and executory as nobody from the stakeholders appealed the decision of the agrarian reform department.
Estrella said the agency will distribute 450 land titles for a total of 450 families.
He said the total land area that DAR would distribute has a total of 200 hectares.