THE Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating Committee (ParcCom) and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Occidental are pushing for a stronger implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) in the province.

To underscore the challenges hounding the implementation of the program in the province, they conducted the Joint Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating Committee-Provincial Carp Implementing Team (ParcCom-PCIT) 4th Quarter Conference at the O-Hotel in Bacolod City on Wednesday, November 25, 2020.

Themed “A Call to Convergence Initiatives, Sama-sama Laban sa Pandemya,” the conference was attended by 31 participants from different line agencies.

These included the Department Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Labor and Employment (Dole), National Irrigation Authority (NIA), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro)), Philippine Army 303rd Brigade, Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, and DAR-Negros Occidental North and South.

Engineer Ignacio Cabayao Jr., Chief Agrarian Reform Program Officer of Land Tenure Security Program Section, said Negros Occidental has the highest balance in land acquisition and distribution (LAD) areas, and the needed support services for farmer-beneficiaries are also enormous.

“This is why the DAR has always been challenged by countless issues and conflicts on agrarian reform implementation. So, this conference is conducted to address the problems encountered by our fellow Carp implementers,” Cabayao said.

To fortify the implementation of RA 9700 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reform (Carper) Law, there must be a synchronization of plans and approaches among the implementing agencies, he added.

Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer I of DAR-Negros Occidental II Enrique Paderes, for his part, encouraged all agencies to continue the ParcCom-PCIT undertaking for more realistic and fruitful convergence initiatives that will help bolster the Carp implementation towards the realization of agro-industrialization.

ParcCom chairperson Azucena Medel capped the activity and challenged her sectoral representatives to strengthen their respective sectors for an expanded involvement and participation of all stakeholders in the implementation of the program.

The ParcCom was created pursuant to Section 44 of Republic Act 6647 to coordinate and monitor the implementation of Carp at the provincial level.

This mandates the committee to provide information about Presidential Agrarian Reform Council guidelines on Carp implementation.