Photo Release

Is DAR accomplishment equal to uplifting farmers’ lives?: Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson asks during a hybrid marathon session on the proposed budget of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Monday, November 15, 2021, whether or not the lives of farmers have become better as a result of the agency’s Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) program under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. Citing the report of DAR, Lacson pointed out that 90 percent or 4.84 million of the total 5.45 million hectares of land had already been distributed to farmer recipients. While the numbers seem to be an impressive feat, Lacson wanted to know if the land distribution has uplifted the lives of Filipino farmers. “What is the gauge to assess the success of CARP in achieving our ultimate goal of promoting social justice and moving the nation to a sound rural development. Can we measure that, by the way?” Lacson asked. In response, Sen. Cynthia Villar, who is defending the proposed P12.3 billion DAR budget for 2022, explained the distribution of land to farmers is already a form of accomplishing social justice and that the contribution of DAR is the empowerment of farmers. (Henzberg Austria/Senate PRIB)