Group alarmed by lack of support services for land reform

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Land reform advocates expressed alarm Friday at the admission by the Department of Agrarian Reform that more than 1 million farmers under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program had no access to government  support services.

Leaders of the Save Agrarian Reform Alliance (SARA) said the agency’s failure to deliver those services, such as access to socialized credit and initial capitalization for farm implements, could “further unravel” past gains of the land reform program.

At a Feb. 3 hearing by the House of Representatives committee on agrarian reform, Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio De Los Reyes disclosed  that 44 percent of all agrarian reform beneficiaries, or 1.166 million persons, remained without access to integrated support services as of December 2013.

“The clock is already ticking for the land distribution program of the government, but just as disturbing is DAR’s inability to ensure that new agrarian reform beneficiaries receive timely and adequate support services,” said Danny Carranza, secretary general of Katarungan, a nationwide farmers’ coalition.

Under the extended land reform law, a package of support services must be provided to existing and new agrarian reform beneficiaries. This package includes access to socialized credit and initial capitalization in the form of cash or farm implements.

The DAR, however, has not fully complied with the directive, according to SARA, the group claimed.