DAR CHIEF SHATTERS NOYNOY’S PROMISE TO FARMERS


 
Secretary Gil de los Reyes’ CARP record dismal
     
Task Force Mapalad (TFM) has charged that Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes has shattered President Aquino’s promise to speed up land distribution and provide P1-billion in assistance to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).
 
TFM Negros president Alberto Jayme said De los Reyes’ performance since June, when ARBs trooped to Malacanang to demand the full implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), has been dismal.
 
A check with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) showed that the actual annual target of land acquisition and distribution (LAD) was 180,000 hectares of new areas for this year, with only 42,234 hectares being distributed as of August 2012 from its backlog of 100,000 hectares last year.
 
This means the DAR only had reduced the backlog by 42,234 hectares and could not conceivably work on the completing its target of 180,000 hectares of new areas with barely three months remaining this year.
 
At any rate, the 42,234 hectares distributed by DAR for two-thirds of the year covered 6,972 landholdings and 23,497 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).
 
In particular, Jayme scored De los Reyes for covering only 837 hectares out of its total target of 17,843 hectares for the northern section of Negros Island and delivered only 506 hectares out of its target of 9,445 hectares in the southern section from January 2012 to July 31, 2012.
 
Worse, the specific issues raised by the farmers before Aquino covering  Hacienda Canticbil-Manalo in Negros Occidental, six other areas in the same province where farmers have not been installed, the Fortich Estate in Bukidnon, Haciendas Bitoon and Bitanagan owned by the Rabat family in Davao Oriental and the Arcal Estate in the same province have not been resolved.
 
Aquino relieved DAR Region 11 director Yusoph Mama on June 30 but the issues the farmers wanted resolved are still hanging.
President Aquino’s promise to provide P1-billion in assistance to ARBs has not been fulfilled as well, the TFM leader noted, saying Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad and the Department of Agriculture (DA) have yet to work out a clear plan in disbursing the fund.
 
“De los Reyes makes the President look bad by not delivering on what Mr. Aquino had promised in June,” Jayme argued.
 
Aquino also told hundreds of farmers from Negros Island, Bukidnon, Batangas and the Davao provinces last June that he ordered De los Reyes to work on LAD quickly, process all certificates of land ownership awards (CLOAs) and hasten the coverage of properties ranging from 10 hectares to 25 hectares and bigger, most of which are private agricultural lands (PAL).
 
The President wants the huge LAD backlog to be erased but the DAR has failed to produce a significant achievement in the last four months.
 
“We hold De los Reyes to his repeated promises to catch up on targets, for which we held off previous calls of ARBs for his relief,” Jayme stressed.
 
“We gave him a chance but the underperformance is serious. His inability to manage is clear and time is running out,” he added.
 
“The DAR needs firm and experienced hands without a need of a learning curve and who can inspire and discipline DAR personnel,” Jayme argued.
 
The TFM leader explained that the claim folders of ARBs are gathering dust in DAR offices, fuelling further restiveness among farmers who have been promised their land by the President. /30

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