DAR: Land distribution to farmers will not end by 2014
June 10, 2013 | 2:10pm
MANILA, Philippines --The Department of Agrarian Reform on Monday reiterated that the land acquisition and distribution under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program will end before President Benigno Aquino III’s term expires in June 2016.
The DAR also appealed to its critics to refrain from circulating incorrect information that the agrarian reform program will expire next year, saying these allegations may agitate landless farmers and farmworkers to resort to violence.
"We remain optimistic that the remaining balance of 'carpable' lands will be acquired by the DAR and distributed to qualified beneficiaries before June 2016," DAR Undersecretary Joe Grageda said.
"We appeal to farmers’ groups, civil society organizations and other agrarian reform advocates to stop circulating incorrect information that the agrarian reform program will expire in 2014," Grageda added.
He said some agrarian reform advocates have erroneous appreciation of the law when they argued that the DAR has only until June 2014 to distribute land to the farmers under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms.
He noted that nothing in the law states that the DAR cannot distribute CARP-covered agricultural lands beyond 2014.
"In fact, Section 30 of R.A. No. 9700 states that the implementation of CARP can be conducted even beyond 2014 with respect to those with pending case/proceeding. This is the purpose why the DAR has been diligently working to issue and validly serve all Notices of Coverage before 2014," he said.
He said that the Notice of Coverage initiates the compulsory acquisition of private agricultural lands and is similar to summons issued by courts.
"The new rules of DAR in fact put in place a similar – almost identical – process of serving Notices of Coverage and summons. As a matter of policy of this Department, once a Notice of Coverage is served, the landholding it covers is deemed encompassed by Section 30 of R.A. No. 9700," Grageda said.
"It is therefore critical for the DAR to issue and serve all Notices of Coverage before June 30, 2014. As of December 2012, it has issued around 95 percent of the Notices of Coverage for all agricultural landholdings above 10 hectares which DAR has a copy of title in its possession," he added.
Grageda said that close cooperation between DAR and Land Registration Authority allows the DAR to obtain, in bulk and in a speedy manner, the certified true copies of titles that it need for the issuance of Notices of Coverage.
He also noted that the CARPER law itself is one of the major reasons why the land acquisition and distribution component of agrarian reform cannot be finished by June 2014.
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