Land distribution eyed with CARP extension

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Agrarian Reform-Cebu Provincial Office has determined its focus for this year in line with the start of the six-month extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

DAR-Cebu for this year will be focusing on the completion of its balances for land distribution which count for 19,000 hectares of land in Cebu province. Afterwhich, it targets to complete distribution of balances before June 30 of this year.

The six-month extension of CARP has lapsed into law after President Gloria Arroyo chose not to sign the joint congressional resolution approved in Congress last December 2008 while a new agrarian reform law is being crafted.

The six-month extension is temporary and will end in June 30 permitting the continuation of CARP activities except for the scrapping of compulsory land acquisition. This means that only Voluntary Offer to Sell and Voluntary Land Transfer can be used by DAR to acquire lands.

For the first six months of the year, DAR-Cebu head officer Stephen Leonidas said that they will set aside the acquisition of new lands but will prioritize the evaluation of balances as to which are acquirable and which are not.

Leonidas said that included in the 19,000 hectares of land are those with encountered problems during either the processing for acquisition or distribution.

He added that out of the total balance, 13,000 hectares of which are acquired through compulsory acquisition done before the extension abolishing this component was passed.

DAR will first examine the balances for distribution and will try to determine whether all are still acquirable or not. Those that will be found troublesome will be recommended to be included in the deductibles.

Within the six months, Leonidas said, DAR-Cebu will continue with its land tenure improvement, delivery of agrarian justice and delivery of support services.

DAR will also start profiling all agrarian reform beneficiaries where each beneficiary will be given a card of identification. Further, DAR will do the inventory of all the lands it has distributed and the support services it has delivered.

Last year, it has distributed a total of 3,002 hectares of land to 3,398 farmer beneficiaries. It has also resolved 625 legal cases filed in the DAR court. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/MEEV   (THE FREEMAN)