Groundbreaking ceremony of the communal irrigation system and the unveiling of the two farm to market roads worth P70 million for the municipality of Payao in Zamboanga Sibugay province from the Agrarian Reform Community Project 2. Present during the activity were ( left to right-R) former Mayor Joefer Mendoza, Assistant Regional Director Agnes Maata, DAR Sibugay Provincial Head Rizzel Villanueva, Regional Director Julita Ragandang, Payao Mayor Carol Mendoza and ARCP2 National Project Director Hernan Ongkiko.
ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY (Mindanao Examiner / July 24, 2013) – The municipality of Payao, a fourth income class coastal municipality in the province of Zamboanga Sibugay in southern Philippines, is a recipient of a communal irrigation system and rural infrastructure projects worth over P70 million from the Agrarian Reform Community Project 2 or ARCP2, according to officials.
Officials said among the projects are the rehabilitation of the 13.5 kilometer Balungisan-Guiwan and 4.15 kilometer of Balungisan—Upper Sumilong farm-to-market roads with a total project cost of P26.3 million, and the rehabilitation of the Balungisan Communal Irrigation System amounting to P44,400,544.
DAR regional director Julita Ragandang said the projects are implemented under the ARCP2 funded by the DAR-Asian Development Bank and the local government of Payao. She said the projects will benefit some 1,098 agrarian reform beneficiaries or ARBs as well as the 10,583 residents of the five villages covered by the project.
The irrigation system will irrigate a total of 580 hectares of rice fields that will serve 315 ARBs in the area, she said.
Ragandang said during the recent groundbreaking of the communal irrigation system and the unveiling of the two farm-to-market roads, Herman Ongkiko, the ARCP2 national project director, announced the municipality of Payao is a recipient of the Performance Based Grant System.
Of the 134 municipalities nationwide covered by ARCP2, only 22 have qualified for the award which is given to a local government unit or municipality or mayor with good performance, good financial management and strong collaboration with DAR and other partner agencies of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in implementing the program aimed at alleviating the lives of the farmers in the countryside.
With the award, the municipality of Payao will be receiving P12 million as an incentive.
Land for ARBs
DAR has also recently distributed Certificates of Land Ownership Award or CLOAs to 989 ARBs with a total of 1,489 hectares of land at the Municipal Hall of Payao.
The distribution of CLOAs was funded by the ARCP2 under the component of Land Tenure Improvement, re-documentation of Collective CLOA. The distributed landholdings were located at the villages of Binangonan, Calape, La Fortuna, Lumapanac, Nanan, Kulasian and Kima.
The CLOAs were handed-over to the ARBs by Ongkiko and was assisted by Ragandang, and assistant director Agnes Maata, PARO Rizzel Villanueva, and Payao Mayor Carol Mendoza.
Ragandang expressed her gratitude to the positive response of the local government of Payao with the leadership of the former municipal mayor Geofel Mendoza. She urged the ARBs to protect the lands awarded to them and must make it productive for them to uplift their standard of living.
Ongkiko said agri-business development will be introduced in the town, such as cacao production wherein the ARBs will have a sure market of their produce.
Some 600 hectares of land have been identified for the project by Kennemer Foods International, maker of M & M chocolates. The initial area that will be utilized for the cocoa production will only be 100 hectares. The project is in collaboration with the Kennemer Foods International.
The Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity Economic Support and Sustainability proposed P22-million project dubbed “Sustainable Rice-Duck Farming with the provision of farm equipments will also be implemented in the villages of Bulawan, Guiwan, Kulasian and La Fortuna and will benefit over 800 ARBs.(Maria Socorro Reabonanza and Suzette Lota)
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