DAR starts info drive on Hacienda Luisita

By Jose Rafael Cesar Atencio

Friday 18th of May 2012

QUEZON CITY, May 18 (PIA) -– The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said Thursday that its information campaign for the beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita’s land distribution will begin today, May 18.

More than 120 personnel from the national and field offices of DAR will troop to the 10 barangays of Hacienda Luisita in Concepcion, Tarlac on Friday for the simultaneous information drive for farm workers/benificiaries regarding the steps to be taken to qualify for farmlots distribution.

DAR personnel will also distribute numbered tickets indicating the farm workers’ date, time, and place of appointment for their interviews with the Department.

In a news release, DAR Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes said the interviews will be the first step in the identification, screening, and validation of farm workers to determine who are qualified to own parcels of lands in Hacienda Luisita in accordance with the recent decision of the Supreme Court.

Delos Reyes appealed to the farm workers and their organizations to cooperate with the DAR in the interview process to ensure a smooth and accurate recording of data needed to screen qualified beneficiaries.

To expedite the land distribution process in Hacienda Luisita, the DAR has set up a computerized system that is capable of screening and validating, as accurately as possible, potential beneficiaries entitled to farmlots in the area.

Delos Reyes said the DAR, at the same time, will make use of the latest technological advances in communication to inform hacienda farmworkers of the steps to be taken to qualify as beneficiaries.

He advised potential beneficiaries to bring identification cards and other documents that would show proof they were farm workers in the hacienda on or before the year 1989.

Relatives of potential beneficiaries may also obtain appointment schedules in behalf of their kin provided they bring documents showing proof of relationship, such as marriage and birth certificates.

Delos Reyes encouraged the farmworker-beneficiaries to leave their cellphone numbers and other contact details with DAR personnel to avail of news and updates with regard to the land distribution process.

The DAR updates would be distributed to farmworkers through “text-blasts” using the short messaging system (SMS) of mobile phone networks.

This system, which involves a dedicated four-digit SMS hotline (“1-HLI”), may also be used by farmworkers for individual inquiries on the process of land distribution.

Aside from modern information systems, Delos Reyes pointed out that the DAR would make use of traditional communication tools such as tarpaulins, leaflets, pamphlets, videos, and even the popular “komiks” to equip the farmworkers with knowledge on the land distribution process, similar to the multi-media manner by which beneficiaries in other parts of the country are currently being made aware of their respective duties and responsibilities.

He noted that the information to be gathered from the interviews with farmworkers will be added in DAR’s database for comparison and validation with existing lists of beneficiaries and voters in barangays covering the hacienda.

The updated data, he added, would be used as the basis in coming up with the initial masterlist of beneficiaries.

This, in turn, would be finalized after the inclusion and exclusion stage of the identification, screening, and validation of farmer-beneficiaries.

Simultaneous with the screening of farmer-beneficiaries, Delos Reyes said the DAR will commence the process of land survey by preparing bid documents needed to ensure that only competent private contractors would qualify for the project.

“The bidding process, alone, may take one month to six weeks. The actual survey may take four and a half months, so we are talking here of a six month-schedule for the whole land survey process,” he explained.

The DAR, he added, is also preparing a list of support services with partner agencies such as the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD), Land Registration Authority (LRA), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), among others, to ensure the availability of financing and credit, farm inputs, farm equipment, and training and legal services to farmer-beneficiaries.

“Three major activities— social preparation and farmer benificiaries identification and screening, segregation and subdivision survey, and preparation for post-distribution support services— will be conducted simultaneously to fast-track the distribution process,” the agrarian reform chief stressed. (DAR/PIA-NCR/RJB/JRCA)