|
DAVAO
CITY—Proposed agrarian-reform projects in the Davao
Region funded by the World Bank (WB) have been put on
hold, but a Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)
executive here said it was not due to the recent
backlash on tainted road projects but on the uncertainty
of the existence of the agency beyond 2008.
And it
was not only the WB-funded projects but the other
foreign-funded projects as well, mainly dedicated to
providing support for economic and social services to
farm communities covered by the agrarian-reform program,
said Rodolfo Inson, DAR regional director here.
Inson
told reporters at a news forum at the Royal Mandaya
Hotel here Wednesday that the WB has stayed the
successor program to its Agrarian Reform Communities
Development Program (ARCDP).
He said,
though, that second phase of the ARCDP would not be
touched but would be allowed to finish its
implementation in the eight ARCs in the region,
scheduled to end by December this year.
He said
that the other donor-countries supporting similar
programs of support services in the region have also
suspended the implementation of the next phases of their
programs. These included the ARC Program (ARCP) that was
being funded by the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation, and the Mindanao Settlement and Sustainable
Area Development (Minssad), funded by the Asian
Development Bank.
Spain
has, likewise, provided financial and technical
assistance to the ARCs’ lighting and energization
requirement through the Solar Power Technology Support.
The program has already provided electricity to four
remote areas of Davao Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao
del Sur and Davao City.
All the
donor-countries have suspended implementing the next
phases of their projects because of the uncertainty that
the DAR would not be granted an extended stay beyond
next year. The DAR was mandated to implement the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of 1988 and
was granted only 10 years to wrap up the program.
Congress granted another 10 years to the DAR to finish
the program, troubled by resisting landowners and
commercial farms that were granted a deferment period
for coverage of the program.
Lawmakers have not yet decided on whether or not they
would extend the life term of the agency, although Inson
said he believed that for the government would. He said
that President Arroyo has not canceled the scheduled
launching of the Davao office of the DAR as its new
central office, as well as the turnover of all
foreign-assisted projects on the same occasion on
Tuesday next week.
“I
believe that the DAR would not be dissolved yet after
2008, because the President has mentioned in her State
of the Nation Address [in July this year] that agrarian
reform is one of the key programs of her administration.
And the people would be expected to demand and collect
that promise from her,” he said.
The DAR
in the Davao region has accomplished 94 percent of the
land-reform targets under Proclamation 27 of
then-President Ferdinand Marcos. This year the agency
has accomplished 73 percent of the year’s target of
covering 7,537 hectares.
The
Davao region has 206,000 hectares of agricultural land
that was targeted for coverage of the CARP. Of this,
214,000 hectares were already covered and were
distributed to farmer- beneficiaries.
Inson
said there were 133,000 beneficiaries in the region,
comprised of the three Davao provinces, Compostela
Valley and Davao City. Of this number, 60 percent have
received various forms of projects supporting their
individual farming actives or their cooperatives.
These
foreign-assisted projects consisted of farm roads,
irrigation, potable water system, solar-powered lighting
facilities, training programs and facilities, livelihood
support such as livestock, feeds and technical
assistance, construction of bridges to link remote
villages, and organizational capacity trainings. |
