By
May May A. Abellon
DIPOLOG
CITY – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-Zamboanga del
Nortecelebrated the7thanniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) on Friday, August 5, 2016 at
Bamboo Garden, this city.
With
the theme “Kabukiranatingpagyamanin para sabawatmamamayan,”the celebration
kicked off thru a press conference with Provincial Agrarian Reform Program
Officer II (PARPO-II) Mohammad Dassan J. Adju, PARPO I Rizzel B. Villanueva,
DAR Employees Association Vice President Anne AndresitaAgura, other DAR
officials and the local media.
CARPER
was created pursuant to Republic Act (RA) No. 9700 amending RA 6657 signed by
former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2009 with the aim of an equitable
distribution and ownership of land, with due regard to the rights of landowners
to just compensation, retention rights and ecological needs of the nation.
“The
Department of Agrarian Reform does not only implement CARP, but we also have
other programs and functions towards sound rural development,” Adju said during
the presscon.
He
added that their department has adopted two approaches: the area-focus and
people approach in terms of their implementation of
programs and projects.
DAR
emphasized that there’s a paradigm shift of rural development in the
countryside.
“Our
focusnow is more on agri-enterprise development unlike before we concentrated
on infrastructure. Because after all,how will the roads and bridges help the
community if there’s no economic activity in such area and the people will
remain poor,” Villanueva stressed.
Meanwhile,
DAR-ZN said that the new DAR Secretary Rafael V. Mariano is supporting the enactment of
House Bill 555 known as Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) determined to
defend and assert the rights of farmers which will enable them to acquire lands
for free or at a lesser cost.
This bill aims to institutionalize a systematic
program of state support and subsidy to land reform beneficiaries in all the
important aspects of agricultural production, including the promotion of
cooperatives.
