DAR not about to be abolished, says Secretary de los Reyes

DAR Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes. www.dar.gov.ph/

MANILA, Philippines—Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes on Saturday allayed concerns that his department was on the verge of being abolished, saying there was still much to be done in the agency beyond the completion of the government program to distribute land to farmers.

He also said he was not resigning amid calls for him to step down over fears of a mass layoff in the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) as part of its “transition plan” after the expiration of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPer) in June 2014.

“The government will not do anything that will kill its own program, which the Supreme Court has ordered it must continue in whatever shape or form,” De los Reyes said at a press briefing.

He estimates that some 900,000 hectares of land covered by CARPer are still up for distribution between 400,000 and 500,000 farmers.

“By January, the DAR’s performance should be better on two facets: land acquisition and pipeline acquisition,” De los Reyes said.

He said about 300,000 hectares would still be left for distribution by the time CARPer expires in 2014.

It will be a harder process “because those lands are private land. Not like previous administrations when most of the land distributed was owned by government,” De los Reyes said.

As for the future of the department, the official said: “It’s not only up to me what happens to DAR or the other agencies.”

He said he and the secretaries of the departments concerned have asked President Aquino to issue an executive order, “so that by 2016, we will know what’s going to happen,” De los Reyes said. In the discussions about the fate of these departments, all stakeholders must be included, not just the employees, he said.

2014 goals

According to De los Reyes, there are things that the DAR still needs to accomplish beyond 2014.

He cited three: “First, to revisit the land that has already been distributed; second, the lands that have not been distributed by 2014 should be distributed; and third, there should be a review of old existing laws regarding the distribution of public lands that are alienable and disposable.”

“That’s one possible mandate for an agency, because it’s within the core competence of our department, plus support services,” he said.

Responding to resignation calls by DAR union members, De los Reyes said he was performing at the pleasure of the President and he could go at any time, but he still believed he could work with other sectors to fulfill his mandate.

“I will step down on my own initiative if based on my own assessment I am no longer able to fulfill my responsibilities,” he said.

According to De los Reyes, the DAR was starting to put into operation its “One-DAR” concept, which involved requiring employees in provinces with little land left to distribute to provide assistance to places with large work volumes.

“Formerly, individual field offices and personnel were left much to themselves in undertaking activities to meet targets or solve problems. Now, the operating framework is that the problem of one is the problem of the entire department,” he said.

Field personnel in Aklan, Antique and Guimaras, for example, are now assisting DAR employees in Negros Occidental in processing claim folders, among other duties, he said.