The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) announced that their office in Davao - Region XI was able to implement about P2.7 Billion worth of infrastructure projects to benefit Agrarian Reform Beneficiares. The funding for these projects came from abroad. All-in-All the projects they were able to finish will benefit about 103,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries and residents.
Much of the infrastructure needed by the new landowners are farm-to-market roads, irrigation networks, post harvest facilities, bridges and potable water supply which were implemented by the DAR.
A Breakdown of their Projects goes as:
- P411,827,046 - World Bank assisted-Agrarian Reform Communities Development project (ARCDP) phases 1 & 2 which were implemented in the provinces of Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental.
- P820 million - The Agrarian Reform Infrastructure Support Project (ARISP) phases 1, 1.5 & and the Mindanao Sustainable Settlement Area Development (MINSSAD) funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JICA) for the provinces of Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Compostela Valley, and Davao Oriental.
- P141 million - The Agrarian Reform communities project (ARCP) of the Asian Development Bank for the province of Davao del Sur and Davao City.
- P173 million - The Solar Power Technology Support (SPOTS) funded by the government of Spain for the provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Compostela Valley, and Davao Oriental which provides renewable energy to agrarian reform communes.
It seems but right that the Department of Agrarian Reform is touting its accomplished projects. Considering that this could be their last year in existence if the revised Philippine Agrarian Reform Law doesn’t get passed in Congress which will extend the mandate of the DAR past 2008. DAR needs all the help in can get to justify the prolonging of their existence so that they won’t be folded into the Department of Agriculture.
Agrarian Reform is a very emotional topic in the Philippines. The much heralded solution to poverty has ended up in a debate on whether it has really been beneficial or did it just end up in making a lot more people poor?
In a nutshell the Philippine Agrarian Reform Law States that for most types of Agricultural Land a person or entity can only retain 5 hectares maximum. Tenants working in a plantation have a right to petition the Department of Agrarian Reform to put the land they are tilling for their Land Lord under Agrarian Reform. By this, the DAR will purchase the property of the Land Lord and distribute it to the qualified tenants.
Some of the common problems cropping up by this law are:
- 5 hectare maximum limit retention has resulted in large corporate farms backing out of investing in the agricultural sector.
- Land Lords not afforded just compensation for the land they once owned. Resulting in dragging court cases against the Land Bank of the Philippines asking for a fair price of their land. In common practice, only a small percent of the land value is paid in cash to the previous land lord while the remaining balance is paid for in government bonds.
- Lack of access to funding or technology for the new land owner/agrarian reform beneficiary. Resulting in him sometimes ending up being broke and having to sell the new land he just gained from the DAR. The downside of this, if he fails in making it good as a Land Lord himself, he has no farm to go back because the Previous Land Lord has no more farm.
- Complaints that the average 1 ha. awarded to a farmer beneficiary is often not enough to eke out a good living
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