DAR continues to serve farmers amid COVID-19 pandemic

DAR continues to serve farmers amid COVID-19 pandemic National News

MANILA – As the country goes through the challenge of Covid-19 pandemic that has been sweeping globally, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), together with other government agencies, continues to find ways and means to help Filipinos survive the health crisis.

In the April 27 report of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee, the DAR and the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council Executive Committee (PARC-ExCom), were cited as among the movers in the agricultural sector in providing services and aid to the farmers and to the country as a whole.

In the report, the DAR, in recognition to the agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) as frontliners in supplying the food requirements of the nation in areas affected by the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), has implemented a project called “PaSSOver: ARBold Move for Deliverance of ARBs from the COVID 19 PandemicProject,” which seeks to consolidate the efforts of the department in addressing the problems brought about by Covid-19.

“This project aims to provide the ARBs with immediate food subsidies and technical assistance to ensure that they are fully capable to perform their duties as frontliners and at the same time, help them earn for their families in this time of crisis,” DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones said.

According to the report, as of April 24, a total of 77,119 ARB identification cards (ARB IDs) have been distributed under the DAR’s ARB ID system to identify the legitimate ARBs who are in dire need of assistance and also to facilitate their access to the government’s social amelioration programs (SAPs), and other financial and livelihood assistance, especially those who are not entitled to the existing SAP.

“Our priority is to give IDs to the ARBs who, for one reason or another, have not yet fully availed of the opportunities and benefits under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). These ARB IDs would facilitate and help them get benefits from the government’s SAP,” Castriciones said. The DAR is also continually assisting the ARBs in marketing and sale of their farm products. The report says that as of April 24, DAR has assisted 673 agrarian reform beneficiaries’ cooperatives (ARBOs), thereby generating a total gross sale of P152 million.

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To ensure the delivery of farm products to critical areas affected by the ECQ, the DAR has issued a total of 629 quarantine accreditation passes to ARBs, ARBOs and agrarian reform communities.

In the moratorium and relief measures of the report, it was cited that the PARC-ExCom has confirmed and affirmed the Land Bank of the Philippines’ (LBP) one-year moratorium for the payment of amortization of ARBs.

Likewise, PARC-ExCom also approved the one-year extension of the Credit Assistance Program for Program Beneficiaries Development (CAPPBD) which provides continuous credit assistance and capacity development to ARBs and ARBOs nationwide until March 2021.

“We continually work with the Land Bank of the Philippines to think of ways and means to help farmers get access to credit and ease their burden of paying amortization especially on these difficult times,” Castriciones said. PARC is the highest policy-making body in implementing agrarian reform laws and dealing with issues under the coverage of the CARP. (DAR)