Islanders receive aid from DAR

By JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA
May 12, 2026

HINUNANGAN, Southern Leyte – During the weekend, some 100 residents from the two island villages in this town, Barangays San Pedro and San Pablo, were delighted with the distribution by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) of calamity readiness packs.

DAR Eastern Visayas Regional Director, Atty. Robert Anthony Yu, personally led on Saturday the distribution of 100 pails full of items necessary during calamity, such as flashlight, slippers, towel, and personal hygiene kit.

Yu shared to the recipients that the distribution of the said assistance was based on the order of Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III who downloaded funds intended for agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in areas frequently hit by calamities.

Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II (PARPO II) Cecil Malubay, who facilitated the hauling of the 100 pails to the two island barangays and assisted Yu in the distribution, disclosed that she was instructed by the regional director to have a separate distribution here so the recipients won’t spend for their fares anymore.

Each resident from Barangay San Pablo will spend P170.00 for fares, while those from Barangay San Pedro will spend P200.00 had they been required to attend the distribution held on April 14 this year at the Hinunangan Municipal Cultural Center.

Fifty-one years old farmer from Barangay San Pedro, Lolito Bago-od, expressed thanks that they were spared from traveling and saved their fares instead for their daily needs.

Meanwhile, Rita Tagnipez, 69, from Barangay San Pablo, became emotional when she saw the items inside the pail. “I can now change my broken slippers!” she exclaimed.

During the said occasion, Yu also directed Malubay, Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer (MARPO), Lilibeth Olita, and chief of the Regional Program Beneficiaries Development Division, Felix Dante Espina, to organize the ARBs here into agrarian reform beneficiaries organization (ARBO) so they would be able to avail of various support assistance extended by the government.