THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Occidental - South is upbeat about reaching its land registration target of 5,112 hectares this year, its top official said.
Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Teresita Mabunay said they already registered at the Register of Deeds certificates of land ownership award (Cloas) covering a total of 1,160 hectares as of June 2019.
Mabunay said these land areas covered under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) are located from Bago City to Hinoba-an town.
"These are not yet distributed lands," she pointed out, adding that "once these landholdings will already be released by the Register of Deeds, we will then administer the distribution of Cloas and installation of the agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).
DAR-Negros Occidental II records showed that of the target areas, 800 hectares are still up for survey and another 800 hectares for valuation.
In terms of land distribution and acquisition, the agency in the province has yet to compute for the actual areas it distributed during the first two quarters of the year.
Since Carp was implemented in 1972, the agency has already distributed 117,000 hectares up to this month benefiting about 76,000 ARBs in the southern part of Negros Occidental.
It still has a total backlog of about 50,000 hectares including those with erroneous notices of coverages (NOCs), it added.
Moreover, Mabunay dismissed claims that "Carp is a total failure" as the program is still on its full swing.
Mabunay appealed for the support of both the public and private sector, stressing that the program's goal is to improve the quality of life of farmer-beneficiaries.
"We are still working to accomplish our balance before the year ends," she said, adding that aside from land, the agency is also working on provision of various support services.
Through its Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development and Sustainability Program (ARBDSP), for instance, the agency implements three major component-projects.
These are the Social Infrastructure Building and Strengthening (SIBS), Enterprise Development Economic and Physical Infrastructure Support (EDEPIS), and Climate Resiliency Farm Production Program (CRFPP).
For SIBS alone, DAR-Negros Occidental II conducts training and provides education to ARBs to strengthen their organization and making them socially prepare before the awarding of Cloas.