Implementing the CARP
DAR is the principal agency responsible for implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
It is mandated to uphold the following Principles and Policies set forth by CARP:
" The welfare of the landless farmers and farmworkers will receive the highest consideration to promote social justice and to move the nation toward sound rural development and industrialization and the establishment of owner cultivatorship of economic- family-sized farms as the basis of Philippine agriculture due regard to the rights of landowners to just compensation and to the ecological needs of the nation."
Land Transfer.
In 2002, DAR distributed 111,772 hectares to 75,560 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), over 11 percent of the target of 100,000 hectares set by President Arroyo during her state-of-the-nation address.
From January to March 2003, DAR distributed 11,095 hectares, higher than the 10,307 hectares and 10,033 hectares distributed during the same period in 2001 and 2002, respectively.
Agrarian Justice Delivery.
In 2002, DAR resolved 34,182 legal cases, most of which (22,624) are about CARP implementation. It is 11 percent higher than the target of 30, 793.
The DAR Adjudication Board (DARAB) handled 28,935 cases in 2002 and solved 15,919 cases, or 74 percent of the target 21,489 cases.
To date, DARAB reported that it has resolved 10,959 cases related to exemption, conversion, and retention rights. Some 4,218 cases related to land valuation, ejection, collection and fixing of rentals, and cancellation of emancipation patents (EPs) or certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) have been resolved.
DAR has undertaken the hiring of more legal officers to strengthen the adjudication boards, the implementation of a quota system to speed up adjudication work, and the paralegal training of ARBs to hasten the resolution of cases and clear the backlog.
Farm Support Services.
To ensure that the distributed lands would be truly productive, the delivery of support services consisting of rural infrastructure, post-harvest facilities, technical assistance, etc. to the ARBs has been a major focus.
Financing for the support services was made possible with the help of foreign donors. Through foreign assistance, DAR had completed 9 irrigation facilities servicing 2,593 hectares, 55 farm-to-market roads with a total length of 187 kilometers, 12 farm-to-market bridges with total length of 1,216 linear meters, and 2 post-harvest facilities with 7 units. These are aside from various technical assistance such as new technology, credit programs, and training of farmers.
Ongoing projects include 14 irrigation facilities that would service 4,020 hectares, 32 farm-to-market roads with a total length of 173 kilometers, 1 farm-to-market bridge 15 linear meters long, and 2 post-harvest facilities with two units each.
Special Programs.
Under this program, the DAR has initiated the projects Gulayan ng Magsasakang Agraryo (GMA), which aims to improve the economic and social conditions of farmers through scientific, environment- friendly and highly productive vegetable farming; the Diosdado Macapagal Agrarian Scholarship Program, which extends educational assistance to deserving and qualified children of ARBs, in cooperation with the state universities and colleges; and the KALAHI Agrarian Reform Zones, which are contiguous agrarian reform communities (ARCs) where support services for ARBs will be given more focus and are envisioned to become hubs of agro-industrial development.
Meeting Public Lands Distribution Target DENR.
As of the first semester this year, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has distributed a total of 67,397 hectares of public land to 49,496 families. This accomplishment represents 53 percent of their total target of 127, 250 hectares for land distribution this year.
The DENR has given 21, 686 households renewable tenurial rights to some 180,179 hectares of forests under the Community-Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA) that would ensure the security of tenure of upland dwellers.
It has issued 6,343 hectares of coastal areas to 4,942 coastal dwellers under the CBFMA.
