Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)

Conference with New DAR Management held

Publishing Date: Friday, August 20, 2010 (03:26 PM)

The Department conducted last week a Conference with the new DAR Management to firm up the doables on Land Tenure Improvement, Program Beneficiaries Development and Agrarian Justice Delivery for the second semester of the year. The three-day conference served as a venue to review regional accomplishments, address issues on the implementation of RA 9700 and resolve operational, technical and legal bottlenecks. It was also an opportunity for the Central and Field Officials to orient the new management on the current sectoral programs and their status.

Participants to the conference were the members of the Executive and Management Committee of the Department as well as Field Officials headed by the Regional Directors, Assistant Regional Directors for Operations, Assistant Regional Directors for Administration and the Provincial Agrarian Reform Officers II (PARO II).

Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio De Los Reyes discussed the thrusts and directions the Department will take in the next six (6) months highlighting the need to accomplish the targets for the year in terms of land distribution, provision of support services and delivery of agrarian justice alongside transparency and good governance.

The Department aims to distribute 140, 000 hectares of private agricultural lands to agrarian reform beneficiaries for the second semester of the year. It also seeks to focus on the DA-DAR-DENR complementation of resources and services to further enhance the provision of support services.

The Secretary also introduced the incoming members of the DAR ExeCom namely, Undersecretary Anthony Parungao, Assistant Secretary Mary Frances Pesayco-Aquino, Assistant Secretary Herminia Fe San Juan, Assistant Secretary Felix Perry Villanueva, and Assistant Secretary DennisN. Barrantes.

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'My administration will be just and fair to all' - DAR chief

Publishing Date: Thursday, July 29, 2010 (01:32 PM)

AGRARIAN Reform Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes has assured all agrarian reform program major stakeholders that his administration would be just and fair to all when it comes to deciding land dispute cases.

Delos Reyes made this clear in a dialogue with farmer-beneficiaries recently at the DAR Human Resource Development Center even as he encouraged all concerned parties to feel free to visit his office and offer comments and/or suggestions on how a case would be tackled to ensure that his decision would be acceptable to all.

"Let it be known to all that in deciding cases I will make sure that our decision will be beneficial to all, and just and fair as well," he said.

Delos Reyes, who claimed to have passion in studying and in teaching, gave farmer-beneficiaries a glimpse of what his administration would be when he tossed to them a problem-solving situation involving an imaginary agrarian case in a bid to solicit suggestions on how to tackle the issues surrounding the case.

"Please do help me in resolving this case without, however, prejudicing the interest of other beneficiaries," the DAR chief said, referring to a situation on how to divide a certain properties among beneficiaries, some with lean and other with bloated family members.

Delos Reyes raised this scenario, saying that there are cases that are similarly situated and the questions often raised are whether the land should be subdivided according to the number of families or to the number of individuals qualified to become beneficiaries under existing laws.

"What if one family has only one child and the other has more than one child and also has relatives and/or friends who were temporarily allowed to occupy certain areas within the subject property?" he asked.

"Rest assured that I will always take into account your comments and/or suggestions before I affix my signature on all cases made available on my table," he said.