By Rey Anthony Chiu
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Nov 11, (PIA) – Since January to date, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Bohol distributed some 900 hectares of lands to landless tenants and would increase its coverage until the end of 2011.
DAR, the agency mandated to spearhead the government’s premier social justice program delivery by assuring tenure by issuing instruments for landless farmers has been at a brisk pace in keeping up with targets the central office has pegged for Bohol, said sources at the local DAR office.
The 900 hectares however comprises only about 31% of the actual target the department has targeted for Bohol office to accomplish.
But, even then, DAR is positive that distributing the total 2884 targeted hectares until the end of December is still attainable.
At the recent Kapihan sa PIA, DAR information Officer Ma. Lydia Bantugan said that DAR central office is in fact so certain that DAR Bohol could deliver, it added 500 hectares more from its early target of 2384 hectares.
We are getting about 31% accomplishment but most of the patches for distribution to Bohol’s landless farmers are already on process and Bohol expects approvals within the next few weeks, she aired at the radio forum carried on by DyTR AM.
The data could be read as drastic, Bantugan pointed out that the office general accomplishment for the whole land reform project gets DAR Bohol an astonishing 87% accomplishment.
That means it has attained 35,477 hectares acquired and distributed as early as June 30 of this year.
And while DAR Bohol has acquired and distributed that much, it now aims to a photo finish with the distribution of the 5,175 hectare balance until the project ends in 2014, Bantugan shared.
DAR has been doing this in line with the government’s ten-year implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) as based on the law or Republic Act 6657, which was passed in 1988.
But since a decade of CARP seemingly was not enough, another ten years of extension was put in through Republic Act 9700.
Twenty years later, authorities succeeded in granting another extension with the passing of the CARP with extension and reforms to put in a more responsive land reform program in the succeeding five years since 2009.
According to sources at the DAR, their employees have reasons to believe that CARPER would have to end in 2014, with the government consuming its funds for the social justice program.
Also beating the same deadline, DAR in Bohol is feverishly empowering communities within their agrarian reform areas to ascertain sustainability after the CARP.
This late, DAR Bohol targets about 31,736 families and has succeeded in reaching 28,705 beneficiary families already.
These families are within the 49 Agrarian Reform Communities (ARC) set up as consultative and participatory body of people generally tasked with planning of the development of their community.
As to working to sustain the program after DAR, the 49 ARCs in 327 barangays of 33 towns in Bohol have been assisted in organizing themselves to facilitate the flow of future government assistance, she said.
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