MANILA, Philippines - Some 120 employees from the national and field offices of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) are arriving today at Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac City to meet farm workers and give them the guidelines to qualify for farm lots that will be distributed.
Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes said the DAR personnel will distribute numbered tickets indicating the farm workers’ date, time, and place of appointment for their interviews with the department, as well as information materials.
The DAR employees will go to the hacienda’s 10 barangays.
“The holding of interviews is the first step in the identification, screening and validation of farm workers who are qualified to own parcels of land in Hacienda Luisita in accordance with the recent decision of the Supreme Court,” De los Reyes said.
He said the DAR will interview potential beneficiaries in batches, using the appointment schedule being implemented by the Department of Foreign Affairs in the passport application process.
He said the DAR resorted to the DFA-style appointment schedule to ensure an orderly process, avoid long queues, and minimize inconvenience on the part of the farm workers.
De los Reyes appealed to the farm workers and their organizations to cooperate with the DAR in the interview process to ensure smooth and accurate recording of data needed to screen qualified beneficiaries.
To expedite the land distribution process, the DAR has set up an elaborate computerized system capable of screening and validating, as accurately as possible, potential beneficiaries entitled to farm lots in the area.
“The DAR, at the same time, will make use of the latest technological advances in communication to inform hacienda farm workers of the steps to be taken to qualify as beneficiaries,” he said.
De los Reyes said the computerization of DAR’s information and database systems, which it has already done nationwide for other landholdings and in the monitoring of agrarian cases, is also necessary for the department to meet its self-imposed deadline of completing the land distribution process within six to 12 months.
He advised potential beneficiaries to bring identification cards and other documents that would show proof they were farm workers in the hacienda on or before 1989.
Relatives of potential beneficiaries may also obtain appointment schedules in behalf of their kin provided they bring documents showing proof of relationship, such as marriage and birth certificates.
De los Reyes encouraged the farmer-beneficiaries to leave their cell phone numbers and other contact details with DAR personnel to avail themselves of news and updates on the land distribution process.
The DAR updates will be distributed to farm workers through “text blasts” using the short messaging system (SMS) of mobile phone networks.
This system, which involves a dedicated four-digit SMS hotline (“1-HLI”), may also be used by farm workers for individual inquiries on the process of land distribution.
Aside from modern information systems, De los Reyes said the DAR will make use of traditional communication tools such as tarpaulins, leaflets, pamphlets, videos, and even the popular “komiks” to inform the farm workers on the land distribution process.
He said the information gathered from the farm workers will be inputted in DAR’s computer system for comparison and validation with existing lists of beneficiaries and voters in barangays comprising the hacienda.
“The updated data will be used as the basis in coming up with the initial master list of beneficiaries. This, in turn, will be finalized after the inclusion and exclusion stage of the identification, screening and validation of farmer-beneficiaries,” he said.
De los Reyes said identifying potential beneficiaries in Hacienda Luisita was made difficult by the fact that the farm workers were not tilling specific farm lots, unlike traditional farmers or tenants who till definite parcels of land.
De los Reyes said the DAR will also start the land survey by preparing bid documents needed to ensure that only competent private contractors qualify for the project.