Newly-installed Agrarian Reform Secretary Bernie Cruz vowed that he would lead the department in bringing progress in the countryside by prioritizing the needs of the farmer-beneficiaries.
OUTGOING Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones turned over today (November 8, 2021) the stewardship of DAR leadership to Malacañang-appointed Acting Secretary Bernie Cruz.
During the ceremony held at the DAR headquarters in Quezon City, Cruz vowed that he would lead the department in bringing progress in the countryside by prioritizing the needs of the farmer-beneficiaries.
Aside from prioritizing farmers’ needs, Cruz said he also wants to fast-track the distribution of certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), as well as the provision of support programs and services to ARB organizations (ARBOs) and fast track the cases under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) implementation.
“Under my leadership, the agency would double its effort to distribute all the remaining undistributed lands to the landless farmers, provide support services to ARBs and bring social justice in agrarian reform communities,” he said.
Cruz said farm consolidation may be the best path toward improving agriculture, livelihood, and productivity.
He said there are two consolidating initiatives that are already being pursued by the DAR which include the "Mega-Farm" and the Inclusive Partnerships for Agricultural Competitiveness projects.
“Both initiatives are intended to improve market linkages and the competitiveness of farmers and aid the DAR in coordinating with institutional partners that can assist in the capital buildup, management skills, and research and development,” Cruz added.
The improvements to farm incomes and productivity will also do much to encourage agricultural expansion and inspire succeeding generations to continue farming, both of which are critical to the nation's achieving food security, he stressed.
“I am committed to bring industrialization in the agricultural sector and through the provisions of support services, such as livelihood opportunities, infrastructure projects, farm machinery and equipment, capability-buildings training, loan facilities, among other support, we can achieve a stable rural economy,” he added
On the other hand Cruz was the undersecretary for foreign-assisted and special projects office prior to his appointment.
It can be recalled that Cruz played a big role in the approval by the World Bank (WB) of the DAR’s Support to Parcelization of Land to Individual Title (SPLIT).
The SPLIT program seeks to give a total of 1.1 million agrarian reform beneficiaries, covered under collective certificates of land ownership award (CCLOA), the chance to identify and own their respective individual land titles and farm lots.
The World Bank (WB) approved a loan package amounting to P24 billion for the implementation of the SPLIT program, comprising 78 percent loan proceeds amounting to P19.240 billion and 22 percent GOP counterpart amounting to P5.385 billion.
The project will be implemented by DAR in 78 provinces in 15 regional offices, covering a total area of 1.368 million hectares, from 2020 to 2024.
Tags: #DepartmentOfAgrarianReform, #changeofcommand, #BernieCruz, #landdistribution