DAR Warns vs Illegal Land Conversions in Bikol

This area is part of the over one million hectares in the entire country that the DAR had to complete the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) before the end of the five-year extension period granted last year by Congress to the implementation of the CARPER earmarked with P150 billion which the new administration of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino should provide.

The 205,770-hectare land covered by CARPER in Bicol is distributed among its six provinces with Camarines Sur having the biggest that is 69,974 has., followed by Masbate, 59,638 has.; Albay, 26,895 has.; Sorsogon, 23,065; Camarines Norte, 17,394 and Catanduanes, 8,804.

The types of lands covered whose LAD are divided into five phases in which phase one includes all private agricultural lands (PAL) with aggregate landholdings in excess of 50 has. that have already been subjected to a Notice of Coverage (NOC) issued on or before December 10, 2008.

Implementation of this phase started on July 1, 2009 and to end June 30, 2012, Tam said.

Also covered by this phase are rice and corn lands under P.D. 27; all idle and abandoned lands; all lands voluntarily offered by landowners; Voluntary Land Transfer (VLT) lands submitted on or before June 30, 2009; all lands foreclosed by government financial institutions; all lands acquired by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG); all lands owned by the government.

Phase 2A whose implementation started July 1, 2009 until June 30, 2012 covers all PALs with aggregate of above 24 has. up to 50 has. with NOC issued on or before Dec. 10, 2008; and all lands covered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) under CARPER.

Phase 2B that is due for implementation between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013 are all remaining PALs with aggregate of more than 24 has. regardless as to whether these have been subjected to NOC or not.

Phase 3A, for implementation July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013) are PALs with aggregate of above 10 has. up to 24 has. in so far as the excess hectarage above 10 has. is concerned; and Phase 3B (July 1, 2013 - June 30, 2014) are PALs with aggregate landholdings from the retention limit of 5 hectares, up to 10 has., Tam said.

"Apart from racing with the time to catch up with the deadline of completing the LAD, we are also racing with unscrupulous landowners doing illegal conversions, making DAR's functions more tedious this time. Double time is the focus of our works to meet the deadline," she added. (PNA)