The Duterte administration has allotted at least P300 million to help agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) to cope with the economic impact of coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said.
In a news statement, DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones said it is currently extending help and support through a project called “The PaSSOver: ARBOld Move to Heal as One Deliverance of our ARBs from the Covid 19 Pandemic.”
The P300-million budget will be sourced out from the reprogrammed and realigned budget of the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Sustainability Program (ARBDSP) and unobligated allotment from the different units of the DAR Support Services Office (SSO).
Castriciones said the project was created in response to the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act or Republic Act 11469, where President Duterte directed all government agencies to provide, protect and promote the welfare of the people in these times of the pandemic.
“This project intends to provide immediate and essential support services to men and women agrarian reform beneficiaries to mitigate the impact of the enhanced community quarantine [ECQ] measures due to the pandemic and to address the demands affecting the agricultural sector even after the ECQ has been lifted or upon the start of the ‘new normal,’” Castriciones said.
As of April 24, 2020, a total of 629 quarantine accreditation passes have been distributed to ARBs and agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs).
The ARBOs will also be provided with farm inputs such as seedlings, fertilizers, pesticides, and farm tools to enable them to resume planting crops for continuous food supply. The project covers 7,000 hectares nationwide with 90,839 individual ARBs to benefit from the project.
ARB identification cards (ARB IDs) are also being issued and distributed under the ARBOld Move. DAR Undersecretary for Support Services Emily Padilla said the IDs are being given to identify ARBs to facilitate their access to the government’s social amelioration programs (SAPs).
As of April 24, a total of 77,119 ARB IDs have been distributed by the DAR.
The project will also extend its support to 1,200 women ARBs nationwide by providing them with livelihood activities, especially in food production, such as egg and poultry production, hog fattening, and similar activities based on their preferences and capabilities to ensure they have food on their tables and products to sell.
Priority assistance will also be given to women with special circumstances such as single parents, widows, senior citizens, head of households, persons with disabilities, and groups of indigenous peoples, who undertake farming activities but lost their source of income because of the ECQ.
The project will also provide packages containing supplemental food, hygiene products and vitamins to ARB households. Each package will contain 4 kilos of rice, four canned sardines, four packs of instant noodles, two pieces bath soap, and 10 pieces face masks and a bottle of 50 pieces of vitamin C tablets.
A total of 126,565 qualified ARBs will benefit from these packages.