Aquino govt hit for slashing proposed DAR budget

Members of the minority bloc in the House of Representatives on Thursday criticized the Aquino administration for slashing the proposed budget of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for next year by more than P4 billion. From this year’s P20 billion, the proposed budget for DAR — the head agency in implementing the government’s agrarian reform laws that benefit poor farmers — has been trimmed down to P16 billion for 2011. “It is very hard to believe that a department like DAR gets a budget cut as big as this. It is very sad to see that the funds that are supposed to be going to the grassroots have been chopped," said Zambales Rep. Ma. Milagros Magsaysay during the House committee on appropriation’s hearing on DAR’s proposed budget. Magsaysay, a member of the minority Lakas-Kampi-CMD, said the budget cut could affect the delivery of services to poor farmers especially in the rural areas. “I think this budget is very little for the department to realize whatever you want to achieve next year," Magsaysay told DAR officials led by Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes during the hearing. House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman said the cut indicates that agrarian reform is not one of the Aquino government’s priorities. “The DAR seems to be trying hard to cover all but they are not given support," he said. The minority bloc members suggested to the committee that the 2011 budget be realigned to give DAR more budget. Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, chair of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD, was present during the budget hearing but did not speak throughout the proceedings. President Aquino has been criticized for his lack of a clear stand on agrarian reform. The Cojuancgco-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, where he still has shares, has yet to be distributed to its farmer-beneficiaries after two decades. [See: Time line of Hacienda Luisita issue.] President Aquino, during his presidential campaign early this year, promised to distribute the Hacienda Luisita land to farmer-beneficiaries of the agrarian reform law by 2015. The land dispute case involving President Aquino’s family remains pending before the Supreme Court, which formed a panel last month to mediate between the Hacienda Luisita Inc. and the farmers. - KBK, GMANews.TV