September 29, 1995
DAR MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 23-95
RE : Clarifying Roles and Activities for
the Beneficiaries Development Program
I. PREFATORY STATEMENT
It is the Policy of the State to pursue a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. The welfare of the landless farmers and farmworkers will receive the highest consideration to promote social justice and to move the nation toward sound rural development and industrialization, and the establishment of owner-cultivatorship of economic-size farms as the basis of Philippine agriculture.
To this end, a more equitable distribution and ownership of land shall be undertaken to provide farmers and farmworkers with the opportunity to enhance their dignity and improve the quality of their lives through greater productivity of agricultural lands.
The Department of Agrarian Reform, being the lead agency for the implementation of agrarian reform is mandated to ensure that the beneficiaries of the program achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
As lead agency, we seek to transform the rural economy into the country's main source of agro-industrial strength and stability. Higher productivity and increased farmers' incomes through the improvement of the tenurial status of farmers and farmworkers and the efficient delivery of crucial and appropriate mix of support services is the end goal of agrarian reform.
The Beneficiaries Development Program is an area of the mandate of the DAR which needs to be further strengthened and clarified. Although there are activities for the Agrarian Reform Communities, there is a need to develop intervention programs for Non-ARCs.
II. OBJECTIVES OF THE BENEFICIARIES DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
The Department of Agrarian Reform has defined the objectives of the program intervention into simple, quantifiable targets. These objectives are translated into the following:
A. Development of strong and viable farmers organizations composed of the direct beneficiaries of the program and other small owner-cultivators in a community. The determinants for this objective are that the beneficiaries:
1. Belong to an organization;
2. Have basic knowledge and understanding of the following:
a. Basic Agrarian Reform concept;
b. The role and value of collective organizations;
c. The objectives of the organization to which the belong;
3. Have the ability to mobilize and generate capital through contribution from its members, accessing of grants or credit;
4. Have the skills to operate and manage an enterprise capable of sustaining itself economically as shown by incomes received; and EacHCD
5. Have the ability to network with other organizations in the municipal and provincial and regional levels.
In the determination of the best institutional arrangement for the community, the community should be the one to decide. The advantages of the cooperative as a vehicle for the availment of credit and other support should however be pointed out.
B. Increase in the incomes of each family to take them outside the poverty threshold or P60,000 per annum at 1992 levels.
Beyond the number of kilometers of farm-to-market roads, number or irrigation facilities or post and pre-harvest facilities, what shall be measured is the impact of these physical infrastructure interventions in their contribution to the increase in the incomes of the beneficiaries.
The interventions of the DAR and other CARP Implementing Agencies in terms of provision of credit, post harvest facilities, and the creation of market linkages should necessarily translate into increased incomes. If at the end of the interventions, no increase in productivity and income is experienced, the interventions are not effective. Income here refers to both farm and non-farm income.
Knowing when to put in physical infrastructure support, when to fund a particular project and how much support to be provided are situational problems which need to be determined by the staff on the field.
C. Increased Productivity of the Land distributed to the beneficiaries. This objective will vary when translated into actual targets depending on the crop produced. These should however be clear targets in moving productivity levels form a certain level towards another.
What is measured is how the beneficiary has made the main resource given to him — land, more productive.
A key activity also in this Key Result Area is the delivery of tenurial improvement programs to the community whether the community is an ARC or not. A faster tenurial improvement program is however expected for ARCs.
III. SETTING KEY RESULT AREAS
In accordance with the objectives set in Part II above, the following Key Result Areas will henceforth appear in the Performance contracts of those in-charge of the Beneficiaries Development Program.
A. Management Competency KRA: Managing the Development Process
1. Completion of Quality Profiles and Development Plans for ARCs and Non-ARCs;
2. Setting up of the Welfare Monitoring Database;
3. Amount of Resources Devoted to PBD and the results of such (Cost Effectiveness; Returns on Investment)
B. Organization Building in accordance with the objectives set forth above;
C. Improved Incomes above the poverty threshold or at P60,000 per annum for the proclaimed Agrarian Reform Communities and monitoring of income levels for the Non-ARCs;
D. Productivity Improvement from X-level to Y level of productivity per hectare.
The weight to be given Program Beneficiaries Development will depend on the responsibilities given to each Official. The weight assigned to Program Beneficiary Development KRAs in the Performance Contracts of the Officials, Personnel, or Offices named below shall not be less than that weight assigned below:
A. Undersecretary for Operations and Support Services 35%
B. PBD Coordinator 80%
C. Bureau of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries 80%
Development
D. Project Development and Management Service 80%
E. Regional Directors 25%-75%
F. Assistant Regional Director for Operations 50%
G. Project Development and Implementation Division 80%
H. Investment Marketing and Assistance Unit 80%
I. Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer 25%-75%
J. Beneficiaries Development Coordination Division 80%
K. Municipal Officer 50%-75%
L. Development Facilitator 80%-100%
The distribution of weights among the different activities within a given KRA will also depend on the tasks remaining for a particular province or Office. DcITHE
IV. CLARIFYING ROLES
Below is a chart of those directly responsible for the Beneficiaries Development Program and in whose Performance Contracts the above KRAs will appear.
Attached, for reference is a matrix of Objectives and Result Areas, including the accountable officers/units.
For purposes of including the key result areas in the performance contracts, the effectivity date of this Circular shall be January 1, 1996. The effectivity of this Circular with respect to the other provisions shall be immediately and all issuances inconsistent herewith are hereby deemed superseded. All concerned are hereby directed to disseminate information on this Circular and to submit reports of compliance thereof to the Coordinator, program Beneficiaries Development not later than 30 November 1995.
Henceforth, the key result areas indicated in this circular shall appear in the performance contracts of concerned officials.
Done this 29th day of September 1995, Quezon City, Metro Manila.
(SGD.) ERNESTO D. GARILAO
Secretary