DAR 7: CARP Functions Will Go On

● Only the notice of coverage ended on June 30, but not the whole function of DAR, official says.

Officials from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) 7 on Monday clarified there is no law ordering the cut off of all services of DAR offices nationwide.

DAR 7 Regional Director Stephen M. Leonidas made this clarification before Cebu media during the Association of Government Information Officers (AGIO) forum last Monday.

Leonidas stressed that only the notice of coverage ended on June 30, 2014, but not the whole function of DAR which is to give equal protection to both land owners and comprehensive agrarian reform program (CARP) beneficiaries.

Leonidas said that congress will settle this issue either by setting up another law or to implement amendments. He also explained that currently, there are at least 60,000 hectares of private lands nationwide which remain under the management of its original land owners.

These lands are located in the different regions all over the country and the DAR offices aims to settle this problem by placing all these lands under the CARP, he said.

Leonidas said that under the CARP law, any private individual who owns a vast hectares of lands must give up a big portion to his tenant who automatically becomes CARP beneficiary. He retains five hectares for his own and three hectares each of his qualified children, Leonidas added.

Qualified tenant is entitled to at least two or three hectares (the maximum) share from the land owners.

He said that during the early years of CARP implementation there were plenty of land owners who misunderstood DAR being the government arm in supervising the subdivision of their properties in favor of their tenants. The DAR function is to implement the law and there were attempts of some land owners who sued DAR to court because of the implementation of CARP law, Leonidas said.

Leonidas added that while the law is getting older, those land owners who already knew the law, were thankful to the government for relieving their big responsibilities on paying property taxes.

Leonidas revealed that in region 7 only the province of Negros Oriental, where 20 percent of its CARP qualified lands, remains to be settled by their DAR 7 office.

Both Cebu and Bohol have 10 per cent each while in Siquijor all CARP lands were already given to its beneficiaries, Leonidas said.

After subdividing these properties to the tenants, the DAR will monitor if the concerned tenants are working hard to maintain good farm productions to their respective farm shares.