After 30 years, ‘CARP not a total failure’

BACOLOD. Department of Agrarian Reform in Negros Occidental–North Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Teresita Mabunay answers questions from the media during the press conference at her office in Bacolod City Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Erwin P. Nicavera)
BACOLOD. Department of Agrarian Reform in Negros Occidental–North Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Teresita Mabunay answers questions from the media during the press conference at her office in Bacolod City Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Erwin P. Nicavera)

AS THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) marks the 30th year of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) implementation, a top official of the agency in Negros Occidental dismissed claims that the program is a total failure.

Teresita Mabunay, provincial agrarian reform program officer II of DAR in Negros Occidental–North, said the program is not perfect but it does not mean that it is not successful.

Mabunay, in a press conference at her office in Bacolod City yesterday, June 14, said there are still challenges which the agency is constantly addressing like correction of some of the notices of coverage (NOCs).

“I beg to disagree that CARP is a total failure,” Mabunay said, adding that looking at the status of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the province “we have contributed to the improvement of their lives through various support services extended and provided to them through the program.”

CARP, which started in 1988 during the time of the late President Corazon Aquino, is the redistribution of public and private agricultural lands to farmers and farmworkers who are landless, irrespective of tenurial arrangement.

It is designed for the attainment of a just, safe and equitable society that upholds the rights of tillers to own, control, secure, cultivate and enhance their agricultural lands, and improve their quality of lives towards rural development and national industrialization.

Republic Act No. 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), is the legal basis of the program which aims to promote social justice and industrialization, providing the mechanism for its implementation, and for other purposes.

(Distribution, balance, target)

In terms of land acquisition and distribution (LAD), records of DAR-Negros Occidental I showed that, as of May 31, 2018, it has already distributed a total land area of about 72,000 hectares in the northern portion of the province, from Bacolod City to San Carlos City.

The figure forms part of the total 187,677 hectares of CARP land distributed in Negros Occidental since the program started 30 years ago.

The province has the biggest CARP area in the country.

In the southern portion, DAR in Negros Occidental–South has distributed a total of 115,677 hectares covering 73,635 ARBs in the southern part of the province, from Bago City to Hinoba-an.

The distributed lands in the north cover 52,000 holders of certificates of land ownership award (Cloas).

Of the 54,000-hectare in balance landholdings for coverage of DAR-Negros Occidental I, it targets to distribute 6,000 hectares this year.

Of the said target, Mabunay said they already distributed about 15 percent, or 895 hectares, and the remaining areas up for distribution this year already have NOCs.

Mabunay said, "CARP should continue to enable us to finish the LAD balance. The agency needs more time, more years to finish it."

Of the 54,000-hectare balance, the agency is currently validating the NOCs as there might be some errors.

Mabunay said they are hoping that a law should be passed authorizing the DAR to resume the issuance of NOCs after the June 2014 deadline.

"Contrary to the conception of the many that the program ended in 2014, we have not. Only the issuance of NOCs was stopped thus, the processing of all those issued prior to the deadline continues," she added.

(Challenges)

As the program continues, the agency also continues to face various challenges that may affect the implementation.

Mabunay said some sectors are still resistant, thus, navigation and mediation, especially among landowners and civil society organizations (CSOs), continue.

Mabunay said they are also establishing a closer relationship with the militant groups to implement the program smoothly.

There are also some issues on the issuance of NOCs and availability of titles, she said, adding that "ariendo" or leasing of lands is still "rampant" in the province.

(Support services)

Moreover, Mabunay said the success of the program should not only be based on the number of lands distributed but also on the support services extended to help agrarian reform beneficiaries organizations (Arbos) and its members improve their living condition.

DAR-Negros Occidental I records further showed that it has covered four Arbos for the Linking Small Farmers to Market (LinksFarm) program.

For Community-Managed Potable Water and Sanitation Hygiene (CPWASH) project, four Arbos also benefited, three Arbos for Village Level Farm-Focused Enterprise Development (VLFED), 26 organizations and cooperatives for Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services (Arccess), and 67 Arbos for Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP).

Thirty-seven Arbos has received cooperative strengthening support, and 19 benefited from sugarcane block farm project, it added.

(Activities)

Meanwhile, themed "Carp@30:DARe2Change," the month-long celebration includes activities like motorcade, thanksgiving mass, zumba dance exercises, and sportsfest, among others.

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