DAR-8 head resolute to hit 2010 target

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
September 8, 2010

TACLOBAN CITY  –  The newly-installed Regional Director of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR-8) is determined to hit this year’s target on land distribution in Eastern Visayas despite the limited time that is left for him.

Regional Director Alexis Arsenal is faced with the challenge of accomplishing in the remaining four months a huge balance from this year’s target left by his predecessor, Mr. Jose Alsmith Soria, DAR Regional Information Officer said.

The day following his installation into office, Director Arsenal met all the Provincial Agrarian Reform Officers (PAROs) of the six provinces in the Region, including key officials at the regional office to check on the status of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) implementation throughout the region.

He found out that a total of 12,903 hectares of private agricultural lands or 98.6 percent of the 13,080-hectare target, remains untouched and needs to be generated with certificates of landownership award (CLOAs) and distributed to potential agrarian reform beneficiaries to meet the 2010 target.

During the conference, the DAR-8 Director instructed the key officials of the Department to work closely with the line agencies involved in the process of generating CLOAs to meet the mandate.

Meanwhile, he likewise directed the Administrative Division to extend the necessary support.

The following Monday, he began meeting field implementers starting with the Municipal Agrarian Reform Officers (MAROs) in Leyte where the bulk of the balance is.

After two weeks, Arsenal had been to four other provinces in the region giving inspiration to field personnel to hit their respective targets.

To motivate the field personnel Arsenal compared the organization to a game. According to him, we are all players that need to contribute in attaining our goal. He added that unlike in a basketball game where some of the players remain at the bench, here everybody must do his part.