DARPO-Cagayan cancels Christmas party, donates rice instead.

TUGUEGARAO CITY - Instead of having the annual Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office (DARPO) Christmas Party, the DARPO-Cagayan employees cancelled their annual Christmas Party in sympathy with Typhooon Haiyan/Yolanda victims in central Visayas where some DAR employees themselves lost their lives. 

     The funds for the Christmas Party were then used to buy rice in 10-kilo bags and distributed the same to indigent families who were pre-identified by the barangay officials in Capatan, Tuguegarao City. Barangay Capatan is just adjacent to the Pinacanauan River, which frequently overflows during typhoons and ruins the crops and livelihood of farmers in the said barangay. 

     PARO II Virgilio Acasili led the distribution of the 120 bags of Sinandomeng rice to indigent residents in barangay Capatan on December 21, 2013. 

     This is in addition to the cash donations earlier given by DARPO-Cagayan employees to victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. 

More photos: https://www.facebook.com/amarophil.cagayan/media_set?set=a.552277304847483.1073741888.100001956556263&type=3

Read PIA-Region 02 Article/Story:http://r02.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=461387432874

   

DARPO-Cagayan conducts onsite hearings in Batanes

Batanes is an island province in the Cagayan Valley Region (Region 2) located on the northernmost part of the Philippines.  The municipalities of Batanes include: Basco (the capital), Itbayat, Ivana, Mahatao, Sabtang, and Uyugan. The three largest islands are Itbayat, Batan, and Sabtang. The northernmost is Mavudis Island. Almost half of Batanes are hills and mountains. Batan Island, with a land area of 35 km², is generally mountainous on the north and southeast. It has a basin in the interior. Itbayat Island, which has a total area of 95 km², slopes gradually to the west, being mountainous and hilly along its northern, eastern coast. As for Sabtang, mountains cover the central part of its 41 km² area, making the island slope outward to the coast. The province is hilly and mountainous, with only 1,631.50 hectares or 7.10% of its area level to undulating and 78.20% or 17,994.40 hectares varying in terms from rolling to steep and very steep. Forty two percent (42%) or 9,734.40 hectares are steep to very steep land. Because of the terrain of the province, drainage is good and prolonged flooding is non-existent. The main island of Batan has the largest share of level and nearly level lands, followed by Itbayat and Sabtang, respectively. Itbayat has gently rolling hills and nearly level areas on semi-plateaus surrounded by continuous massive cliffs rising from 20–70 meters above sea level, with no shorelines. Sabtang on the other hand, has its small flat areas spread sporadically on its coasts, while its interior is dominated by steep mountains and deep canyons. Batan Island and Sabtang have intermittent stretches of sandy beaches and rocky shorelines (source: www.wikipedia.com).

Sometime in October 2013, Atty. Ma. Fatima Yadao and her staff from the Legal Division of the Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office of Cagayan (DARPO-Cagayan) braved the unpredictable weather, and got on board a light aircraft from the Tuguegarao Airport and proceeded to Basco, Batanes to attend to the concerns of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) and landowners concerning matters related to the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (R.A. 6657) as amended by R.A. 9700 (CARPER).  

The Legal Division provides agrarian legal assistance, which is comprised of resolution of agrarian law implementation (ALI) cases, ARB representation before judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, mediation and conciliation.

Also with them are DARAB Provincial Agrarian Reform Adjudicator (PARAD and OIC-RARAD) Atty. Elizabeth Binag and her staff who are to conduct hearings in Basco, Batanes. Both offices are concerned with the implementation of agrarian justice delivery which consists of adjudication of agrarian cases and provision of legal assistance. 
Because of the implementation of the DAR’s Rationallization Plan under Executive Order No. 366, the DARPO-Cagayan and DARPO-Batanes have been merged into one DAR provincial office with DARPO-Batanes being absorbed by DARPO-Cagayan under PARO Virgilio M. Acasili. As such, the services of the two DAR provincial offices are being managed by PARO Acasili as the provincial head of DARPO Cagayan-Batanes. 

Due to the high volume of cases needing immediate resolution (ALI and DARAB cases), hearings were conducted within the first two days of their arrival starting on the afternoon, the morning of their arrival was spent preparing the pleadings, notarization of documents through a deputized notary public in Basco, interviewing the party-litigants and their witness, etc. Around 14 DARAB cases were heard on the first day and about 15 cases were heard on the second day. Other cases involved the determination and declaration of the farmers’ status as bonafide Agrarian Reform Beneficiary (ARB) through the issuance of a Writ of Installation in favor of around 50 farmer-beneficiaries to erase any cloud of doubt as to their ownership of the awarded farm lands they are actually cultivating, as the same landholdings were previously the subject of legal controversies.

Aside from the hearings, the team also proceeded with posting of legal notices on the premises of the landholdings involved in the ALI and DARAB cases, ocular inspection of the landholdings under litigation, conduct of legal information, consultation and mediation conferences.

These kind of activities shall now be a regular part of the Legal Division’s and DARAB’s calendar of activities (in Batanes) for the coming years unless otherwise directed by the department’s policy rules and regulations.

Modernizing outlook: The DAR Legal Case Monitoring System (LCMS)

TUGUEGARAO CITY – The Department of Agrarian Reform Regional Office 02 (DAR-R02) through Regional Director Atty. Marjorie P. Ayson has directed all Legal Assistance Division and the DAR Adjudication Board (DARAB) personnel involved in the updating of data for the Legal Case Monitoring System (LCMS) to attend the conference-workshop on the system to familiarize themselves with the operations of the LCMS.

            The DARAB is the quasi-judicial body the DAR which has the power to hear, determine

questions of fact pursuant to Section 50 of RA 6657 as amended, and Supreme Court Administrative Circular No. 29-2002 which state that the DAR is vested with primary jurisdiction to determine and adjudicate agrarian reform matters and shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over all matters involving the implementation of agrarian reform, except those falling under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department ofEnvironment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The DAR, in a bid to hasten the resolution of agrarian reform cases, has installed a web-based system for monitoring and tracking agrarian related cases which will soon enable litigants to inquire about the status of their cases online.

Under the LCMS, agrarian-related cases filed at the DAR Adjudication Board (DARAB) or at the Legal Assistance Division in all DAR offices nationwide will be entered into the system.

The LCMS program provides the DAR personnel easy access to information on any agrarian reform case as the system enables them to efficiently keep track and to determine the status of legal cases. It also enables the DAR to more effectively deliver agrarian justice services to stakeholders.

The DAR management is confident that this modernization project will help the Department in achieving its targets especially those requiring the speedy resolution of cases affecting land acquisition and distribution. By:christiandsales