This is so because the once "powerless" agrarian reform community (ARC) is a recipient of the P15-million Solar Power Technology Support Projects (SPOTS) under the Comprehensive Agararian Reform Program (CARP).
Agrarian Reform Secretary Jose Maria B. Ponce who turned over the project to the farmers said Lamarisan is one of the first 11 ARCs identified as a SPOT project in the area.
ARCs are composed of a large number of farmers earlier awarded by DAR of land titles and who have organized themselves into strong farmers’ associations.
He said the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has put into action President Arroyo’s pledge that she would transform Mindanao into a major zone of peace and progress when she launched the P3.3-billion DAR SPOTS project during her earlier visits in the region. One hundred forty-eight remote sitios and barangays belonging to the 5th and 6th class municipalities all over the region are included in the project.
SPOTS offers six solar packages that can supply the energy requirements of Lamarisan ARC. This includes a solar lighting system to light the homes of 170 households, a school solar power system to make learning for its students in class less cumbersome, a barangay health center lighting system, a barangay hall lighting system and a community lighting system that shall benefit 2,211 more beneficiaries. The DAR will also implement the agri-water supply system in Lamarisan which will supply 50 cubic meters of water everyday.
"This is DAR’s way of expressing our commitment to suppot the President’s peace and development efforts and in helping in the poorest of the poor. We are prioritizing the areas which are highly inaccessible to basic services," Ponce added.
"The areas’ inaccessibility explains the difficulty of including them in the government’s grid electrification program. This condition only exacerbates the poverty incidence in the said areas," he explained.
"Lamarisan is the latest story of the enduring significance of CARP and it comes at a time when my administration is exerting all efforts to promote and institute good governance in the DAR to create once again the proper momentum to successfully finish the land distribution component of the program," Ponce stressed.