Year-end Report DAR: Improving the delivery of land acquisition and distribution targets
The thrust of President Duterte’s administration to fast track the distribution of lands to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) has empowered Filipino farmers to become landowners in the near future.
Free land distribution, at the core of genuine and comprehensive agrarian reform, is one of the six sector outcome and legislative agenda backed by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in President Rodrigo Duterte’s 2017-2022 Philippine Development Plan (PDP).
PDP 2017-2022 is the first concrete step towards the realization of AmBisyon Natin 2040 of President Duterte that aims the country to be a prosperous middle class society where no one is poor, people live long and healthy lives, and are smart and innovative.
This year, DAR issued directives to hasten and improve the land tenure services of the department.
It deems necessary that the land tenure services improve so that the delivery of land acquisition and distribution targets of DAR is ensured. Land acquisition and distribution involves the redistribution of government and private agricultural lands to landless farmers and farm workers.
DAR has been able to distribute 4.74 million hectares to 2.8 million agrarian reform beneficiaries from 1972 to March 2017.
This year, DAR targeted to distribute a total of 48,588 hectares to 46,253 ARBs.
From January to June, 2017, DAR has already covered a total of 11,356 hectares. It has a beginning balance of 602,306 hectares this year.
For 2018, DAR aims to distribute 53,841 hectares of land that will benefit 46,072 agrarian reform beneficiaries.
In the Cordillera Administrative Region, a total of 1,652 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) received their CLOAs, covering 937 hectares in the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mt. Province this year.
In Nueva Ecija, DAR distributed 95 CLOAs covering 144.88 hectares to 80 farmers.
Meanwhile, 282 hectares of land covered by 159 CLOAs were distributed to 115 ARBs in Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro City.
Around 921 ARBs in Yolanda-hit areas, specifically in the municipalities of Barugo, Jaro, and San Miguel in Leyte, received their CLOAs covering a total land area of 941 hectares.
DAR also led the distribution of CLOAs to 123 farmers in Camarines Norte, totaling 222.94 hectares.
Farmer installation In 2017, former Secretary Rafael Mariano issued Administrative Order No. 05, giving way to the land acquisition process and farmer installation despite applications for conversion involving agricultural lands or pending acquisition proceedings.
He pointed out that one of the biggest stumbling blocks in the agrarian law implementation is the installation of farmers on lands where there are pending cases of conversion and protest on coverage.
Data from DAR showed that the agency had to address a total of 58,220 agrarian law implementation cases from July, 2016 to June, 2017.
Of these, 27,981 agrarian law implementation cases were resolved and covered, including 209 dialogues involving 12,292 farmers within the same period.
This is more than double the 97 consultation-dialogues held and 12 times the number of farmers accommodated from July 2015 to June 2016.
Hacienda Luisita Early this year, DAR led the validation of ARBs in Hacienda Luisita.
The month-long ARB validation study covered some 6,212 ARBs that have been awarded a total of 6,884 farm lots located in 10 barangays inside Hacienda Luisita.
It revealed that within the last three years, almost 4,000 ARBs –or 83 percent out of a total of 5,212 Hacienda Luisita ARBs – were not in the possession of their awarded lands.
The study also showed that aryendadors gained possession of ARBawarded Hacienda Luisita lands when farmer-beneficiaries faced financial difficulties owing to lack of funds for producing crops or when there was an illness in the family.
This in effect placed the vast Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac under the full ownership and control anew of the farmer beneficiaries.
Mariano declared null and void the selling and leasing out of lands awarded to Hacienda Luisita beneficiaries.
New chief
Before the year ended, DAR welcomed a new chief who will lead the fasttracked distribution of lands to farmers.
President Duterte appointed John Castriciones as DAR’s Acting Secretary, almost two months after the Commission on Appointments blocked the confirmation of former Secretary Rafael Mariano’s ad interim appointment. Undersecretary Rosalina Bistoyong served as OIC Secretary soon after Mariano’s rejection.
Castriciones emphasized that under his leadership, farmers especially those qualified to benefit from the agrarian reform program of the government must be prioritized.
“A lot of our problems in the country have emanated from the social injustices and the most affected are the farmers,” Castriciones said, noting that around 70 percent of the Filipinos are still connected with agriculture.
“Farmers are victims of the longstanding injustice in our history. And because of this uneven distribution of lands, it has resulted in a lot of rebellions in the past,” he said.