Valte: President still has confidence, trust on DAR chief

President Benigno Aquino III still has full trust and confidence on Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes amid reports that some sectors, including the Catholic church, have expressed disappointment over the alleged dismal performance of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in distributing lands to farmer beneficiaries.p>"Secretary Gil de los Reyes enjoys the full trust and confidence of the President," said Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte in a radio interview on Sunday.

At present, Valte said the government has distributed some 300,000 hectares of agricultural land to 169,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries.

She, however, admitted that there are more challenges in the process of acquiring and distributing target lands as the remaining balance up for distribution were mostly private agricultural lands.

"Before, what government was distributing (was) government-owned lands. Now, we are in the process of acquiring and distributing privately-owned lands," she noted.

Acquisition of private agricultural lands under the "compulsory acquisition" scheme takes longer to process as landowners continue to resist the government's land reform program, Valte said.

Republic Act No. 9700 or the CARP Extension with Reforms (CARPer Law) signed in 2009 extended the implementation period of the government's land distribution scheme for another five years or until 2014.

Malacanang has vowed to finish land distribution under the extended Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program even after the 2014 deadline.

Valte said as long as the notice of coverage has been issued before June 2014 deadline, land distribution will still be entertained.

According to the DAR's calculation, the balance of land to be distributed would shrink between 305,678 hectares to 514,311 hectares this year.

By 2014, the year when the land distribution program expires, the projected balance is between 179,778 hectares to 390,100 hectares.

De los Reyes earlier said the DAR has implemented measures to fast-track the processing of these lands, including an agreement with the Land Registration Authority that would allow the DAR to request for the mass processing of documents required from the LRA and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

He said the DAR would also bid out the services for the surveys of disputed lands, the same method used in Hacienda Luisita. (PNA)