About 21.66 percent of landholdings that are yet to be distributed by Department of Agrarian Reform nationwide are in Negros Occidental, DAR Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes said yesterday.

De Los Reyes said that of the 500,000 to 600,000 hectares to be distributed to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries in the Philippines, 120,000 to 130,000 hectares are in the province, and 50,000 hectares will be distributed before 2015 ends.

He said land distribution will continue despite the opposition of local officials because the Notice of Coverage Extension Bill which is pending before Congress is addressed to landholdings that were not issued the Notice of Coverage.

Under Section 10 of Republic Act 9700, any case and/or proceeding involving the implementation of the provisions of Republic Act No. 6657, as amended, which may remain pending on June 30, 2014, shall be allowed to proceed to its finality and be executed even beyond such date.

It means that all landholdings that were subject to the Notice of Coverage before June 30, 2013 will still be acquired, contrary to the common notion that DAR cannot continue with the acquisition, De Los Reyes said.

However, he refused to reveal the vast landholdings in the province that are up for distribution and acquisition, and said they have no deadline for them because this is based on constitutional mandate, so long as the landholding is covered with the Notice of Coverage.

De Los Reyes said that when CARP started in 1972, DAR targeted to distribute nine million hectares of landholdings all over the country. He said DAR will continue what it has started and the government, through its meager and limited budget, has been trying to enhance the support services.

De los Reyes underscored the success of the block farming initiated by the Sugar Regulatory Administration, and said the credit program of the Land Bank and the Department of Agriculture is already between P800-P900 million with a repayment rate of 95 percent.*APN

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