Duterte fires DAR execs over two-year processing of land conversion

Certain officials at the Department of Agrarian Reform have been fired after it took them two years to process a case of land conversion, President Rodrigo Duterte declared on Tuesday.

“'Yung conversion, from one of agriculture to commercial ata, took them two years to process," the President said in a speech during the annual assembly of the Provincial Union of Leaders Against Illegalities in Lucena City.

“Kung nakikinig sila ngayon d’yan sa conversion office ng DAR, better prepare because you’re fired," he added.

Duterte has long complained about the bureaucratic red tape in government. In May last year, the President signed Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 which seeks for simplified requirements and to streamline procedures in the delivery of services.

"Kung hindi kayo mag-ano, kasuhan ko kayo. 'Pag hindi pa kayo natakot sa kaso, patayin ko na lang kayo,” he said. "Patiisin mo ako. Para mo akong ginagago kasi. You take me as a stupid idiot."

Duterte reiterated his promise to speed up land reform in the country as a means to address the communist insurgency.

Her said he would hasten land reform in Quezon, a province with a presence of communist rebels.

"I was trying to figure out if nandito si [John] Castriciones, the DAR Secretary, kasi gusto ko siyang tanungin and I hope he would be around next time na gusto ko siyang tanungin if there’s still available lands, government lands ang uunahin ko dito banda sa inyo," he said.

"Kasi ‘yan ang the most fertile isyu ng komunista." —NB, GMA News