MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 18, 2012) – Some 1,500 farmers in Bacolod City in Negros Occidental marched to the streets to demand the full implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
The farmers marched to the provincial office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to demand from Agrarian Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes to fulfil the promise made by President Benigno Aquino to speed up the distribution of land to landless peasants not only in Negros Occidental province, but all over the country.
Alberto Jayme, president of the farmers’ group called Task Force Mapalad-Negros, said Delos Reyes failed to implement the program despite Aquino’s order.
“The DAR chief is clearly not abiding by the mandate given him by the President as the department has achieved the worst performance in the past 2-1/2 years, with the accomplishment rate not even hitting 50 percent,” he said in a statement sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Jayme stressed that from January to October, DAR only distributed 48,473 hectares out of the annual target of 255,501 hectares or just about 19%.
“Delos Reyes was a complete disaster as far as the CARP record for the southern and northern sections of Negros Occidental is concerned,” he said.
Based on the complete DAR data for January to October, the target for northern Negros Occidental was 28,022 hectares, but the department was able to distribute only 1,099 hectares, for a batting average of 4 percent.
For southern Negros Occidental, the target was 9,445 hectares but the accomplishment was only 1,226 hectares, or a measly 7.7%, Jayme said.
Taken together, the 2012 target for the entire Negros Occidental province was 43,161 hectares which is the sum of 26,928 hectares current target and the backlog of 16,233 hectares.
Comparing this 43,161-hectare total provincial target to the combined 2,325-hectare accomplishment for South Negros (1,099 hectares) and North Negros (1,226 hectares), the provincial accomplishment rate is a measly 5.38%.
“We do not like to believe that the DAR is deliberately slowing down on its already slow pace but the fact is that since our meeting with President Aquino on June 14 this year, the land distribution aspect of CARP has practically ground to a halt,” Jayme said.
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