The Department of Agrarian Reform launched the Agrarian Reform
Communities (ARC) in 1993 for its key program for national development. In the
past, DAR has concentrated mainly on the distribution of land to the landless
farmers, while this is the core of any agrarian reform program, experience has
shown that this is not sufficient to raise the quality of life of the agrarian
reform beneficiaries (ARBs). And that a strategic development was created which
we call the ARCs wherein DAR has focused and realigned its priorities towards
the development of viable agrarian reform communities. It is the ARCs where DAR
has been intensifying its interventions to increase farm production, improve
household income and promote sustainable development. With ARCs, the
Department, in partnership with other CARP implementing agencies, local
government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs) and people’s
organizations (POs) have a structure for concentrating its resources and
development efforts. Development interventions focus on Land Tenure Improvement
(LTI) and Program Beneficiaries Development (PBD) to ensure economic,
political, environmental and socio-cultural viability of the ARCs.
In 1995, the President of the Philippines issued Administrative
Order No. 194 for the adoption of the Social Reform Agenda (SRA) convergence
policy and its operationalization, which is considered a milestone in the field
of rural development. The Administrative Order identifies Agrarian Reform
Communities, among others, as convergence areas where the various agencies and
entities shall focus their resources, services and interventions. The key
components of ARC development are: (1) land Tenure Improvement (LTI); Social
Infrastructure and Local Capability Building (SILCAB); (3) Sustainable
Area-based Rural Enterprise Development (SARED); and (4) Basic Social Services
Development (BSSD) including Gender and Development.
The ARC concept: An ARC is a barangay at the minimum or a cluster of
contiguous barangays where there is a critical mass of farmers and farm workers
awaiting the full implementation of agrarian reform. The farmers and the farm
workers will anchor the integrated development of the area.
VISION: A nation where there is equitable land ownership with
empowered agrarian reform beneficiaries who are effectively managing their
economic and social development for a better quality of life.
MISSION: To implement CARP through the distribution of lands and
provision of support services in order to attain social equity and promote
sustainable development.
The National Scene: Access to land is essential to ensure that rural
growth will substantially benefit the rural poor. A highly inequitable
distribution of productive assets, such as land, does not only limit the
participation of the poor in production growth but also stifles the potential
of the country to achieve long-term growth. For more than six decades, land
reform has been (and is still) the constant battle cry in the Philippines.
Agriculture contributed almost P485 billion worth of the nation’s domestic
goods and services in 1997. Three-fifths (3/5) or about 49 million of the
population live in the countryside and nearly half (19 million) of the labor
force work in the agricultural sector.
At present, there are 6 out of very 10 Filipinos who continue to
live below the poverty line due to inequality in income distribution, among
others. More than half of the nation’s wealth is controlled by the richest 20%
while the bottom half of the population gets only one-fifth. In 1997, 44% of
the rural families are living below the poverty line especially the rice,
sugarcane, coconut and corn farmers.
The Tasks: To empower the farmer-beneficiaries through the following
processes: (1) landownership and control of productive resources through
distribution of remaining 1.1 million hectares (nationwide) of land to farming
families within five years and maintain the efficiency standard for resolving
agrarian cases; (2) promoting and strengthening the social institutions at the
community level and at different levels of governance by enhancing the
capability of the program partners, intensifying agrarian reform beneficiaries
development, consolidating existing ARCs and expanding the rural development
interventions in non-ARC areas; and (3) increasing access to productive
resources by working closely with the Department of Agriculture (DA),
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), other line agencies and
local government units (LGUs) towards a convergence of services to meet the
needs of ARCs, better management and increase foreign assisted projects,
establishment of a joint-venture business arrangement between farmers and
agribusiness firms, meaningful partnership with autonomous societal actors in
land reform and rural development undertakings.
Strategies: In the implementation of the above-mentioned tasks, the
following strategies shall be utilized: (a) completion of land distribution;
(b) convergence mwith DA, DENR, strategic line agencies and LGUs focusing on
specific crops, commodities and integrated farming systems; (c) continuation of
the ARC development by expanding to embrace all ARBs, especially those not
included in the existing ARCs and convergence zones; (d) social marketing
campaign; (e) organization development of the DAR bureaucracy.
The agrarian reform agenda is grounded on three equally important
principles with respect to the rural sector: economic development, social
justice, and political democratization. Consistent with these three distinct
but related principles and congruent with DAR’s vision and mission, the
implementation of the ARC Development Plan has to be enhanced and expanded to
contribute to the achievement of food security, poverty reduction, and
countryside development. /cds
