Friday, June 23, 2006
Vice governor wants results on land reform
By Maricar Aranas
VICE Governor Jose Petit Baldado challenged the Department of Land Reform to re-evaluate whether its comprehensive agrarian reform program (Carp), in its 18th year this month, has really helped improve the lives of the farmers.
Baldado said he had observed that many Carp beneficiaries continued to suffer from the absence of support services after taking over the land.
In many cases, he said, because of the lack of support services, land awardees found it difficult to plant their farm or could not till their land because they have no money to buy seeds or fertilizers.
"As a result, the land could only yield a little or, worse, gets neglected," Baldado lamented.
Another problem, he said, was that owners of many Carp-covered lands demand high prices for their properties to the disadvantage of the awardees who would have to shoulder amortization costs.
The vice governor dismissed statistics about Carp's gains in distributing land, stressing that since the program has reached its 18th year, the Land Reform department must show results about its impact on the lives of the farmers.
Baldado said the legal problems and high land valuation besetting Carp contributed to the poor implementation of the program.
(June 22, 2006 issue)
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