Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)

Revitalizing the BARC and Enhancing PMES

by: Lut Arbolente

Publishing Date: March 10, 2010 (04:03 PM)

Strengthening of BARC (Barangay Agrarian Reform Council) is one of the agenda discussed in the recent conference of MAROs (Municipal Agrarian Reform Officers) in DAR Sorsogon headed by Roseller R. Olayres, Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer II.

Almost everybody knows that CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) is founded on the right of farmers to own the land they till or to receive a just share of their harvest, thus, the BARC was formed wherein the Department of Agrarian Reform conversed on agrarian reform issues. This council is composed of twelve representatives: ARBs, Non-ARBs, agricultural cooperatives, farmer's organizations, barangay council, NGOs, landowners, Department of Agriculture, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agrarian Reform, and Land Bank of the Philippines.

BARC has been long implemented in the province of Sorsogon and they operate on a self-help basis. However their existence and vital role in the implementation of agrarian reform seems unknown to many and its supposed re-organization every two years becomes three years or more, hence, the term of many BARC Officials has already lapse without replacements. For that reason, DAR will revive the BARC. DAR-BDCD of Sorsogon headed by Nelson Espaldon will set up the 3-year Provincial BARC Strengthening Plan. Part of the strengthening is the provision of IDs to the BARC officers.

Another agenda undertaken during the recent MARO conference is the Orientation of the Enhanced Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation System. CARPO Gina Bolaños from DAR Regional Office presented its Salient Features. "One very important to be looked for in monitoring is whether the ARB has maintained the ownership of the land", Bolaños said.

The reason why improvement in planning, monitoring, and evaluation system of DAR is needed, is to get a concrete figure regarding the impact of CARP's implementation to the ARBs' lives because in practice, DAR has not yet making such survey. This time, the system will be more scrupulous. Unlike in the past year, provincial offices submit only the summarized reports to the regional office, now it will have an accompaniment Evidence List. The Provincial Evaluation, Monitoring Unit (PMEU) will submit the summarized reports. In Sorsogon, it will be the responsibility of Mariam Jamoralin, PMEU Head. The Provincial Data Processing Center will submit the evidence list. Ma. Teresa Dealca, Computer Programmer will do that task. This is to ease the tallying of Accomplishment Reports submitted with the reported Accomplishment in the Central Office.

A provincial Data Team (PDT) will be organized to be the verifier of the information submitted by the DARMOs (DAR Mun'l Offices). Its members will be composed of Division Chief. The PMEU (Provincial Monitoring and Evaluation Unit) Head will be the Team Head who will be called "Data Base Manager". The Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer II will be the overseer of the PDT.

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DAR-ARCP2 Team and LPOs undergo E-PAP Training

by: Lut Arbolente

Publishing Date: March 10, 2010 (3:49 PM)

Orientation-Training on Enhanced Participatory Area Planning (E-PAP) was held in Sorsogon which was participated by DAR-ARCP2 Team and LPOs (Local Project Offices) of LGUs as part of the Agrarian Reform Communities Project (ARCP2) implementation in the province.

Roseller R. Olayres, Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer II who is the ARCP2 Provincial Project Manager in Sorsogon acknowledged the presence of the LPOs particularly the MPDCs, Municipal Engineers, MAOs, and MSWDOs; and other DAR-Personnel from Regional Office who are included in the project implementation.

During the occasion, Lerma Dino, RPO CDD Specialist gives the Brief Orientation regarding ARCP2 overview and strategic framework; E-PAP framework overview; and E-PAP concept, processes and output. Mar Duka, PPO CDD Coordinator expounds the formation and orientation of planning team; and E-PAP Team Composition and Responsibilities. He also discussed the importance of ARC Profiling and Secondary Data Collection. Teofisto Villanueva RPO AED and Marketing Specialist discussed the Objectives, Processes and Outputs of BWC (Barangay Workshop Consultation) and Community Visioning. Ferdie Balmaceda, ARCP2 CDD Consultant tackled all about the preparation of masterlist and household grouping; as well as the process in determining respondent and conduct of household survey.

Afterwards, Lerma Dino gives inputs on how to conduct Focused Group Dialogue. The financial analysis, cost and return, and cash flow analysis was explained by Benjar Romero, ARCP2 RPO Economist. The orientation will not be completed without the lectures about Constraint and potentials analysis of SWOT, and the Constraints Tree Analysis. All of this knowledge are needed in the preparation of Comprehensive ARC Development Plan (CARCDP) as one of the requirements in the implementation of ARCP2. Before the end of the day, they were able to do the action planning managed by Nelson Espaldon, ARCP2 Assistant Project Manager.