The Department of Agrarian Reform is eyeing the distribution of 352,511 identification cards for select farmer-beneficiaries for the easy accessibility of the government’s various programs, projects and services.
Secretary John Castriciones said the IDs would contain the farmer’s basic information, such as the specific number of their certificate of land ownership award (CLOAs); province, municipality and barangay where their property is located, and their recent photo bearing his signature.
“The agrarian reform beneficiaries’ (ARBs) IDs will be distributed free of charge to those who were awarded with CLOAs from 2010 to 2020. These will be distributed personally by the regional directors and provincial agrarian reform program officers to ensure the integrity of the IDs,” he said.
The IDs shall be the basis of DAR and the other government agencies in providing the necessary assistance to the farmers, and shall serve as proof that a beneficiary has already received government’s cash aids or any relief assistancw.
“The ARB IDs, in coordination with Department of Agriculture, Land Bank of the Philippines and Philippine Crop Insurance Corp., is also intended as basis for providing the ARBs with credit and insurance projects, which include among others, agrarian production credit program, credit assistance program for program beneficiaries development and rice competitiveness enhancement fund,” the DAR chief said.
Concerned farmers may use the ID cards as an additional documentary requirements, especially during the enhanced community quarantine, for more government aid to the vulnerable sector, such as the social amelioration program of P5,000 to P8,000 financial assistance to persons with disabilities, senior citizens, pregnant mothers, solo parent, overseas Filipino workers. homeless persons, farmers, fisher folks, self-employed and others from the informal sector.
Meanwhile, the department announced the offer of the Bagnos Multipurpose Cooperative in Banna, Ilocos Norte of a buy now, pay later services to their customers who do not have the money at the moment amid the enhanced community quarantine due to the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Dubbed “panic lista,” the cooperative’s project manager Amelia Bautista said farmer-members and their customers could just get rice and other goods from the cooperative, and that payment could come later “when the health crisis is over.”
