CARP Turns 26, LAD Extends Two More Years

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) celebrates 26th anniversary of implementation in June bereft of a specific annual theme. In what was expected to be end of the Program, the land acquisition and distribution (LAD) scheme is still far from over, with President Benigno Simeon Aquino III certifying a bill as urgent that seeks to stretch the CARP Extension with Reforms (CARPER) until 2016 after holding a series of meetings with farmer leaders that represented a critical mass of land tillers awaiting full implementation of CARP.

 

Rubber is one of the major crops in the province of Basilan

From a national LAD balance of 771,795 hectares as of December 2013, the DAR in 2014 reduced and “cleansed” its records to 539,666 hectares, excluding portions for retention and landholdings deemed problematic and thus were deducted from the LAD target. 

Even if R.A. 9700, otherwise known as the CARPER Law that succeeded RA. 6657(Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law), ceases to exist, it still allows support services for agrarian reform beneficiaries and the delivery of agrarian justice to proceed beyond June 30, 2014. What was given a deadline was the LAD aspect of the Program.

 A farmer beneficiary tends to black pepper seedlings in the nursery

 For the province of Basilan, a total of 603.6911 hectares is targeted for coverage this year. The province has distributed a total of 25,175 hectares of which 18,674 hectares comprised of 11 agrarian reform communities, excluding about 3,000 hectares more or less in Isabela City. DAR Basilan CARP scope stands at 36,273 hectares. 

 

DAR Assesses 3 ARCs on Organizational Maturity

In line with the various programs for beneficiaries’ development, the regional office of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Cotabato mandated the five DAR-ARMM provinces to conduct an organizational maturity assessment (OMA). For Basilan, three (3) agrarian reform beneficiary organizations (ARBOs) were subjected to such evaluation. These are Sta. Clara Agrarian Reform Integrated Development Cooperative (SCARBIDC) and Lamitan Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (LARBECO), both in Lamitan City, and Mangal Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Cooperative (MARBEDCO) in Sumisip township.

 LARBECO

OMA is part of a bigger picture which is the agrarian reform community (ARC) level of development assessment or ALDA. The ALDA’s key result areas to examine are land tenure improvement, economic and physical infrastructure support services, farm productivity and income, basic social services, gender and development and organizational maturity.

Pendatun Mambatawan, of the regional OMA team, congratulated DAR-Basilan for conducting such initiative on assessing the ARCs. He stated that among the DAR-ARMM provinces, only Basilan regularly conducts ALDA despite fund constraints.

 SCARBIDC

OMA sub-areas are organizational maturity, resource management, social enterprise operations, and local governance and alliance building. Upon computation of the raw data, results will place the assessed organization in any of the following: Level 1- low level of development, level 2- lower medium, level 3- medium level, level 4-higher medium, and level 5-high level. At least a rating of level three is required for an organization to access projects under Agrarian Reform Communities Connectivity and Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) program.

MARBEDCO

LARBECO shall be included in the third batch of ARCCESS projects while Sta. Clara is due to receive two units of hauling trucks and MARBEDCO’s project proposal for mechanized rubber-coconut production which will come in the form of one (1) unit farm tractor with trailer is already in the pipeline.

Comprising the DAR-Basilan OMA team are staff from the beneficiaries’ development and coordination division. (MAD)

DOLE-ARMM Lectures on Labor Relations, Human Relations, and Productivity Module

The Department of Labor and Employment regional office, through the facilitation of DAR-Basilan, conducted a lecture on labor relations, human relations and productivity module in two agrarian reform communities in Basilan. Lamitan Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (LARBECO) and Sta. Clara Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative (SCARBIDC) learned the basic concept of employment relationship, management prerogatives and obligations, workers’ rights, labor management education on employment relations, individual worker’s rights, the human relations steps, and harmony at work.

 

(Above) DOLE-Basilan provincial officer Sagira Asid speaks before LARBECO participants. (Below) Ms Lidasan lectures SCARBIDC participants on human relations.
 

Lecturers from DOLE-ARMM in Cotabato were Norma Lidasan, supervising labor and employment officer, Faheeda Aliudin and Mohiddin Usman, labor and employment officers.  (MAD)

MSU-GenSan Conducts Training, Validates Project Proposal

The Needs and Design Assessment team, composed of Dr. Wilfred Bidad and Czarina Saikol, conducted a two-day farmers’ field school training for Sta. Clara Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative (SCARBIDC) in Sta. Clara. 

 

Topics discussed were Islamic principle of organizations,  orientation to new Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) forms, abstract of expenses, organizational structures, vision, mission and goal statements, annual development plan, coop strengthening (Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008), social audit, cooperative values, principles and practices.

The team also conducted a validation session with Mangal Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Cooperative (MARBEDCO) for their project on mechanized rubber-coconut production which will come in the form of one (1) unit farm tractor with trailer. 

Prof. Czarina Saikol (above) validates the project proposal together with

MARBEDCO’s board of directors (below). 

SCARBIDC Breaks Ground For Road Projects

The bustling agrarian reform community of Sta. Clara Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative (SCARBIDC) set into action as it broke ground to commence two road sub-projects under the second phase of the Agrarian Reform Communities Projects (ARCP2). These projects are concreting of a two-kilometer road inside the industrial and residential camp and rehabilitation/improvement of an eight-kilometer plantation road from the camp to the southern border of Bohenange. Project costs stand at PhP 12,119,431.57 for the two-kilometer concreting work and PhP 19,038,414,09 for the eight-kilometer stretch. Lamitan City government are still in the course of fulfilling requirements for the initial download of project fund pegged at thirty percent. The fund will be released directly to the city local government unit.

 Equity sharing at 50-50 for ARCP2 and the city local government of Lamitan is still subject for approval at the National Sub-Project Approval Committee (NSAC) level in the National Projects Coordination Office (NPCO) in DAR-Central Office in Manila. The city government will be considering about sourcing out some of the manpower from Sta. Clara.

 In related development, ARCP2 saw through a completed four– kilometer concreting of an agrarian reform community (ARC) road network in Tipo-tipo Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Agricultural Development Cooperative (TARBADECO) in Tipo-tipo town. Other on-going sub-projects are rehabilitation of 9.98 kilometers of ARC road in Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative (TARBIDC) in Sumisip and four-kilometer farm-to-market road in Tipo-tipo Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (TIPARBECO), in Ungkaya Pukan with an accomplishment status of 51.15% and 86.46% respectively.

Sub-projects in the pipeline include concreting of farm-to-market roads in construction of a level 2 water supply system, and construction of a multi-purpose building in Lantawan, Maluso, and Sumisip whose ARCs are recipients of the Project.

LARBECO Undergoes SDPW

Thirty-seven participants from Lamitan Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (LARBECO) underwent a three-day training on Strategic  Development and Planning Workshop. It touched areas on environmental scanning, review and update on vision and mission statements and charting of the cooperative’s development plan. Dr. Josephine Dajuela, a private university professor and CDA-accredited lecturer, steered the participants into active involvement of the discussion through massive workshops.

 Reviewing the organizational chart of the cooperative.

 Dr. Dajuela discusses a participant's workshop output.

 Group work by department..

 LARBECO Chair Rodel Ramonez presents his new goals.

 

A light moment during an unfreezing period.

Dr. Dajuela beams after being presented with a certificate of appreciation from LARBECO manager Jose Bernadas and BOD chair Rodel Ramonez.

Marathon Referendum for Subdivision of Collective Landholdings

A series of referendum was seen through the month of May to get the pulse of agrarian reform beneficiary organizations whether or not they are for subdivision of their collectively owned landholdings managed through cooperatives. An overwhelming response of affirmative votes swept through the following communities:

Tipo-tipo Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (TIPARBECO) in Ungkaya Pukan municipality;

Tumahubong Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative (TARBIDC), Sumisip;

Tairan Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Agriculture Multi-Purpose Cooperative (TARBAMC), Lantawan;

Canas Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Cooperative (CARBADECO), Maluso, and

Tipo-tipo Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Cooperative (TARBADECO), Tipo-tipo.

  A sizeable crowd appears for TARBIDC consultation and referendum.

                    An ARB casts his vote that will determine the fate of the cooperative.  

 The YES vote has it for TARBIDC

While Sta. Clara Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Integrated Development Cooperative (SCARBIDC) in Lamitan City failed to reach the required majority votes on the first scheduled referendum, it also joined the YES wagon after a second conduct, leaving Mangal Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Cooperative (MARBEDCO) in Sumisip township with a negative winning result. Lamitan Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (LARBECO) is still yet to set its referendum schedule.

 

DAR Operations chief Engr. Ronald Gadaingan meets with SCARBIDC BOD before the consultation.

SCARBIDC agrarian reform beneficiaries sign the attendance sheet.

Engr. Ronald Gadaingan speaks before MARBEDCO ARBs in a consultation prior to the referendum.

 ARBs cast their votes against growership arrangement scheme that designs individual farm lots for them to work in.