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DAR, DA form team to identify govt lands for CARP coverage

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The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) have agreed to form a joint validation team to identify government lands that may be covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The DAR led by Secretary John R. Castriciones and the DA led by Secretary William D. Dar reached an agreement during a meeting last January 28 that only idle government-owned lands should be covered by the second phase of CARP or the Duterte administration’s agrarian reform program.

The two officials also decided to work hand-in-hand in pursuit of the country’s food security program.

The formation of the joint validation team came after Dar suggested that all government-owned lands be verified and validated first before deciding whether or not these should be placed under CARP coverage as provided for under Executive Order (EO) 75.

Under the law, DAR is authorized to place under the CARP coverage all idle government-owned land for distribution to landless farmers.

Castriciones then proposed the formation of a joint validation team between the DAR and the DA, to which his counterpart agreed to ensure that no government-owned farmlands that are being used in pursuit of the country’s food security program would be compromised.

Dar said there are lands owned by the DA that are being used as “farm laboratories” even as he raised concerns that these may be inadvertently placed under the CARP coverage during its implementation.

Signed by President Duterte on February 15, 2019, EO 75 continues to face resistance from some government agencies.

While the order directs all departments, bureaus, offices, and instrumentalities of government to identify lands owned by the government devoted to, or suitable for agriculture, for distribution to qualified beneficiaries, government agencies are giving DAR the runaround in submitting a list of potential CARPable land under their jurisdiction.

During an online news conference in September last year, citing DAR’s own inventory, Castriciones said there are 217,120.98 hectares of government-owned land that can be covered by EO 75.

However, only Technical Education and Skills Development Authority had executed a Deed of Transfer to over 289 hectares of government lands in Davao de Oro in favor of the DAR.

Also in September last year, the Cagayan State University has donated 622 hectares of agricultural lands for distribution to landless farmers.

Castriciones, during the said press conference, said “other agencies of the government are not cooperative but the department is exerting all efforts, including legal confrontation to cover these government-owned lands.”

Nevertheless, Castriciones is confident that the DAR would eventually be able to achieve its target distribution covering government-owned lands with the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

Read full article on BusinessMirror

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