Wednesday, June 27, 2007 DAR wary on end of Carp in 2008 By Ryan Rosauro
PAGADIAN CITY -- A local official of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has expressed anxiety over the fate of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) beyond 2008.
Since 1988, Dar has been the partner of progress of rural communities especially of farmer-beneficiaries of Carp, said Zamboanga del Sur provincial agrarian reform officer Glen Sabijon.
Sabijon worried that if Carp is not given a new lease of life, delivery of vital support services will greatly suffer and will put to naught the rural development gains achieved so far.
In Zamboanga del Sur, as much as 16,000 hectares of land are still to be distributed to farmer-beneficiaries, hence, another extension is needed to carry this out, he stressed.
Earlier, Harold Berayo, Mindanao chairperson of Katipunan ng mga Samahan ng Maralita sa Kanayunan (Kasamaka) has suggested that the "unfinished target" in land distribution can be taken cared of by a special body created to focus on this concern.
Kasamaka have stood against the non-extension of CARP beyond 2008 alleging Dar bungled on its mandate of delivering social justice through land redistribution.
It cited the large landholdings in Mindanao that remain untouched.
But advocates of Carp extension said that in much of Mindanao's rural villages, the issue of tenurial security continues to haunt efforts at improving agricultural performance hence the continuing relevance of the program.
A number of non-government organizations also hold that instead of scrapping it altogether, Congress must thoroughly review the program with the broad participation of rural folks, agrarian reform advocates and other stakeholders with the view of seeking ways to strengthen Carp.
Sabijon pointed out the unclear fate of Carp beyond 2008 is holding the implementation of several projects in the province funded by multilateral agencies like the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
He revealed 15 agrarian reform communities (ARCs) in Zamboanga del Sur are supposed to get from 300 to 400 million pesos in development assistance but disbursement of the funds is being withheld because the ADB is apprehensive to give the go-signal.
