TAPP Enduro Trail 

Challenge April 25

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, April 15 (PIA) – How far will your P50.00 go?

If you happen to be an enduro motorcycle cross enthusiast, it would be limitless exhilaration, tingling fear and the ride of your life, in a little over 15 kilometers, that is, when you register to the Alicia Enduro Trail Challenge Series 2021, to happen this April 25.

For P50.00, which is way much cheaper than a theme park ride, one can straddle on a trail bike, bind with the machine and speed off to rip the trails of the notoriously tricky climbs, technical trails and the brutally beautiful scenes of The Alicia Panoramic Park (TAPP) of Barangay Cambaol.

With it, you can claim the bragging rights as among the very few whose guts of metal and nerves of steel, have successfully surmounted the ridges of the sauntering heights of Mount Labawan.

One of the three extreme sports events that the town is offering after it opened its premier sports tourism playgrounds in the TAPP, the Enduro Trail Challenge is open to two categories: 5 man team open for a combination of two-stroke and four-stroke racing machine engines in mixes of 2-3, and the solo ultimate which uses engine displacements below 200cc, no production class, according to Alicia Municipal Tourism Officer Godelia Lumugdang.

Gun starts is at 1:00 PM April 25 Sunday.

"We have to reopen our industries and our tourism site in the TAPP, to help revive the local economy and empower the people to safely and confidently get back to work even amidst the threat of the COVID pandemic," admitted Mayor Victoriano Torres III.

"Indeed we have to be safe and secure but we also need to help each other resuscitate the economy, so we have to do this, ever careful to put in place the minimum health and security protocols against the disease," he added.

Also offered during the two-days of extreme sports festivities are The Alicia Trail Run Challenge in 5 and 10 kilometer races April 25 in the morning, and the Alicia Mountain Bike Trail Challenge 2021 April 24, which also centers on the cross country trails of Cambaol-Cabatang and nearby barangays.

A spin-off from the March Mayor Dong T Torres Alicia Enduro Trail Challenge 2021 which ended with a braaping success, this endure trail challenge is sure to test one’s will power to trust on the engine and the techniques gained over years of riding the saddle, said rider Romulo Dasigan.

Dasigan, along with the Bohol East Trail Bikers of Alicia and Mabini have mapped the trails and assure bikers that they would enjoy as much as love the course.

Registration is only at P50.00, but the fun is definitely worth more than that, Lumugdang added.

For registration details, contact 0930-823-3330 or 0945-396-0095 or visit the Municipal Tourism Office of Alicia and look for Godelia Lumugdang. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

LINED UP. Alicia, in a bid to announce the reopening of its prime tourist destination in the TAPP has lined up three extreme sports challenges: Mountail Bike Trail Challenge on April 24, TAPP Trail Run on April 25 in the morning and the Alicia Enduro Trail Challenge series 2021 april 25 at 1:00 PM. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

MONEY CANT BUY. The exhilaration and the bone chilling thrill are things money cant buy when one surrenders to the wild abandon of youth at the TAPP. Register now at Alicia Municipal Tourism Office. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

Loay dad seeks faster

PCR swab test results

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, April 16 (PIA) -- Loay Mayor Atty. Hilario Ayuban, in a Facebook post, disclosed that he personally witnessed the pain of the next of kin of a resident in his hometown who died and was buried as per protocol as the swab test results did not come out on time.

"These survivors experienced traumatic stress, fear, anxiety, sadness and anger which magnified their grief," he said.

"Such is because they knew their patient was not sick of COVID. Even if the patient was extracted a swab to ascertain that fact he is COVID-free, and as a matter of admitting hospital’s protocol," he continued.

Before the swab test results could come out from the Reverse Transcription Polymerases Chain Reaction, the patient died.

As a probable case of COVID-19 pending the test results, the deceased was immediately wrapped, sealed, and buried within 12 hours according to Bohol Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) protocols.

The Loay case is also similar to many cases all over Bohol since the pandemic hit as the admitting hospitals have implemented the swab test as a matter of admission protocol.

“I find it heartless to bury immediately the body of the deceased with pending results,” Ayuban wrote.

In some areas, even vehicular accident victims getting to hospitals are swabbed and if these victims die before the test results come out, they are considered COVID probable and a burial in less than 12 hours is implemented.

“While I understand the intention of the protocol adopted by the Bohol Inter Agency Task Force relative to the immediate burial (within 12 hours) of the deceased COVID-19 suspect, the availability of a local RT PCR in the province, I believe we can have an RT-PCR test result in less than 12 hours,” the mayor wrote.

In areas where the swab samples are sent to third party clinics for analysis, the turnaround results could take time.

"But Bohol has two of the needed RT-PCR laboratories, which can significantly cut the turnaround time for the samples to return to the patient," the mayor added.

Ayuban noted that a fast-tracked RT-PCR test result could ensure the dignity and respect of the dead.

“Accepting death related to COVID-19 has been complicated, not to be able to say goodbye to their loved one. All these factors make bereavement a much greater challenge and call for extra consideration,” the mayor said in his letter to the governor dated March 26, 2021.

The mayor of Loay town has requested Gov. Arthur Yap to implement measures to prioritize and expedite the running of the swab samples to have a faster RT-PCR result of deceased COVID-19 suspect or probable cases.

Ayuban said the fear of an immediate burial which can happen during nighttime or dawn in the event of an untimely death at the hospital has already caused problems.

“Most elderly who are suffering from health problems are now scared to have their regular check-ups or to be admitted in hospitals, they prefer to just stay at home and helplessly wait for their time,” the mayor said.

He said, "aside from the possibility of exposure to other patients, they fear being swabbed and if they meet their untimely death while awaiting for the RT-PCR results, they fear an immediate burial."

"Many elderly died at home and were not given the proper medical attention they deserve because of this fear," he noted.

This despite incidents when many of those who were immediately buried for being suspect or probable COVID cases later turned out to be negative for the virus in their delayed RT-PCR results, the mayor argued. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

Loay Mayor Hilario Ayuban (4th from left) discusses his letter to the governor seeking to expedite the swab test results of patients who died in the hospitals so that families can know if the burial of their dead who are probable or suspected of COVID can be delayed. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

 

Funghi delicioso at Alfresco

There is a place barely twenty minutes from the bustle of Tagbilaran that offers a stress-free and eat healthy and tasty fare.

Claiming to be a stress-free zone is one thing, settling down in a banig romblon laid on the ground, a low wooden pallet as a table and just savouring the cool breeze filtered by a tangle of coconut leaves covering a manicured lawn is The Life. Hearing the gentle rustle of leaves, the gentle splash of a nearby fountain and the faint chirping of birds, ah, that is celestial.

Alfresco Restaurant, the newly opened unique outdoor dining venue of The Green Thumb Farm is just that, even without the food yet.

Tucked in the neatly trimmed carabao and bermuda grasses in a coconut grove in Purok 4, Barangay Sambog in Corella towns is a farm that distinguishes itself as a rarity in Bohol.

Owned and managed by couple Rona and Jares Denque, the outdoor resto which utilizes the free huge spaces of the farm’s front lawn is, like it presents, an open air resto that allows guests to sit, squat or simply allow the experience of grounding with the earth while enjoying its bounty.

Here, guests may opt for the low table or the regular table with wooden slab benches, or the shed for the more formal idea of dining.

Opened from 2:00 to 9:00 PM, the restaurant also packs a free visit to the farm’s ‘vertical gardens’ and its unique produce: cultured mushrooms.

Supported by the Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Training Institute, the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Science and Technology, The Green Thumb, owing to its unique produce, easily led the way in Bohol’s mushroom niche.

The Green Thumb’s journey was not a bed of roses, shared ATI-7’s Regional Director Dr. Carolyn May Daquio during the restaurant opening.

Green Thumb CEO Rona echoed the same, adding that buckets could not hold her tears of frustration starting with an entirely new venture that demands the painstaking patience of a laboratory scientist, the persistence of a nursing mother and the determination of a good neighbour to help her community.

Starting with 7 workers, the farm and resto now employs 19: a person with disability, neighbors and all of them workers displaced during the pandemic.

Also a regional trainer and lecturer about mushrooms, Rona of The Green Thumb fame, started to produce oyster mushrooms grey, white and pink and when the sales was good, expanded.

Pioneering the industry with very few competitors has its premiums and the farm soon was shipping their produce to Cebu. In the pandemic however, with reduced boat trips, somehow, they decided to find ways to use their harvest, and the restaurant was an easy option.

In the restaurant menu, one finds the usual fare: sisig, a Pampango dish usually seasoned with calamansi, onions and chili peppers, karekare, a Filipino stew complemented by a rich thick peanut sauce from curd and curry, humba, a popular Visayan dish of tenderized meat in soy and vinegar and chicharon, a deep fried skin that makes for a great beer match, would always jump out of the daintily crafted menu.

The finer print however betrays the ordinariness of the fare.

All the menu served here does not include meats of any sort: pork, beef or chicken. All are mushroom based, and the discriminating palate of the fine dining connoisseur could be fooled easily.

Here, the only sure thing you can get from the menu is the mushroom soup. Thick and tingy, the minced mushrooms spetacolare to the palate.

Your carbonara will have mushrooms overloaded, pasta is al dente although the cheese and the oils could disqualify it as vegan. But, the taste is squisito, as the Italians would have it.

The karekare will have all there for the eyes to feast, except for grey mushrooms which act as substitute for the ox tail. And yes, it also comes with a bagoong look-alike: mushroom bagoong as you guessed.

The mushroom chicharon is a spectacolare, as the Italians again would say. Ask for a ball of Sambog’s home-fermented sinup-ak tuba too, to be truly authentic.

For snacks, the house mushroom burgers are a must, and the mini pizza, ottimo.

Visit The Green Thumb Farm, do not be inhibited. Run and roll in their wide lawns as you let the carelessness innocence of youth take over, and leave that stress somewhere. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

SISIG GREENTHUMB STYLE. Instead of pork face and pork liver, Green Thumb’s sisig is just as authentic and manyaman as the Pampango dish. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

CURRY TO THE HIGHER LEVEL. Kare-kare ala Green Thumb will have your blanched pechay, eggplant, string beans and peanut buttery sauce but in place of the oxtail, are mushrooms. And it comes with, yea, as you guessed, mushroom bagoong, minus the funny smell. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

CARBOPNARA ECCELENTE. As delicioso as it can get, the Green Thumb Alfresco carbonara is as authentic as it can be, with the mushrooms of course. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

DAR ends 30 years of waiting: 

delivers CLOAS to 66 farmers

TRINIDAD, Bohol, April 17 (PIA) – With clenched fists and pieces of paper raised, a group of farmer members of the Trinidad Talibon Integrated Farmers Association (TTIFA) shouted Mabuhay ang mga Mag-uuma, this time with less repression that when they were in the streets howling in rallies as street parliamentarians.

The farmers, 66 of them wearing white t-shirts and waving their earned Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) have reasons to be jubilant.

The government, and not the empty promises of the Hugpong sa mga Mag-uumang Bol-anon (HUMABOL), their former organization’s umbrella, has finally given them the legal proof that the land they are now tilling is theirs, and nobody can take it away from them.

“Kapin sa trainta ka tuig jud, daghan na ang nagtuo nga di jud matuman sa goberno ang iyang gisaad, kay mao man pud ang gisulti kanunay sa Humabol,” confessed a beneficiary who would be coming home to a land that would ne their truly.

In that span of 30 years, TTIFA, under their mother organization HUMABOL, has almost succeeded in claiming to the whole country that communism works with a communal farm they illegally tilled, the dissent against the government also a fertile ground for fighters in the underground movement.

With most of them activists openly protesting against the government’s program before, they can now freely and fearlessly shout without fear of getting accused of rebellion or siding with the communist terrorists, after realizing they have been taken for a ride, the promises have remained empty after three decades.

Now with the government, no less than Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary John Castriciones personally handed to the 66 beneficiaries part of the over 111 hectares which the government cleared for distribution from the government sequestered properties of the Bohol Cattle Corporation.

“Dugay gyud namo nga agwanta, kombinse sa mga tawo nga makig-uban sa kagamhanan ug talikdan na ang kagubot,” shares TTIFA Chair Rowena Eronico, who has to begin anew the TTIFA in 2020.

“It was hard to get the sympathy of the people, as they have been indoctrinated to go against the land reform project, but slowly and consistently convincing them of the earnest government efforts, we regained the majority eventually, to process on the claims,” she added.

With Castricciones was a full force of the DAR with Undersecretaries Virginia Urogo, Emily Padilla, Regional Director Resty Osias and regional support staff, DAR provincial Officer Eddie Manginsay and a horde of staff and local officials led by Gov Arthur Yap, Mayor Judith Cajes, Army Commanding Officer Colonel Alan Tabudlo, Bohol Police Chief Osmundo Salibo and mayors from neighboring towns.

Castricones and government officials braved the long and bumpy ride to Sitio Panaghiusa of Barangay San Vicente in Trinidad town, over 100 kilometers from Tagbilaran and into the nest of the most vocal farmers organization under HUMABOL, to deliver the titles, which the farmers have long awaited, April 17.

The most important part of the lives of farmers is when they get the land they can call their own, Castricciones said.

Yesterday, we were in Catigbian for the DAR to door, the department personally delivers the land titles to the owners right at their doorstep, he shared.

That is why, we have to exert efforts for our farmers to receive their own piece of land and start helping the country in food production, the secretary who is personally handling out the proofs of land ownership, stressed.

During the pandemic, we have recognized the importance of agriculture, the pandemic has made us realize how compromised our status is [in food production], he admitted.

That is why, I always say, farmers are true heroes, highlighting the need to strengthen agriculture in times of the pandemic.

For the DAR people, he said “we all need to work to elevate the economic status of our people, and we do not stop in giving lands, we also have to give them support.”

The activity, according to Castricciones is in consonance with the presidential mandate to finish giving out the lands eligible for award before President Rodrigo Duterte ends his term in July of 2022. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

MABUHAY ANG MGA MAG-UUMA. Most farmers of the Trinidad Talibon Integrated Farmers Association could not believe that the government could still deliver after three decades of aspiring to get titles to the lands they tilled for generations already. Today, 66 farmer beneficiaries waved their titles and shouted their most favourite chant when they were still street parliamentarians. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

TO OLD TO BE FOOLED. A beneficiary of the DARs CARP meticulously checks her received land title, trying to figure out any discrepancy as she was accordngly told that the titles would be hiding something to bind her family to the land. That lie however has been a last ditch effort to dissuade the people from accepting the titles to instigate people to turn against the government. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

DOTr to finish P2.3 B projects 

before Duterte’s term ends

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, April 14 (PIA) – The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has coursed through the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) some P 2.3 billion in four projects seen to improve mobility and connectivity of Bohol to other parts of the country.

DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, who personally flew in to officiate the second Passenger Terminal Building (PTB II) of the Port of Tagbilaran, announced the good news and promised to get these projects going until its substantial completion by the end of the term of the president.

“Regalo ni Presidente ito,” Tugade blared, “to show to the Filipinos and the Boholanos his love.”

Sec Tugade, who has also been credited for the completion and the operationalization of the Panglao Bohol International Airport, arrived in Bohol with PPA General manager Jay Daniel Santiago.

“As I speak today, we have finalized four major projects that would cost P2.3 billion,” he announced, to the resounding applause of local officials gathered at the new facility.

The projects, according to the Transportation secretary includes the P546 million construction of the cargo portion of the Port of Tagbilaran, the construction of back-up and roll-on roll-off (RORO) ramps of the Port of Jagna, the P560 million construction of a back-up area and RORO ramps, and the wharf back-up area and completion of the RORO ramps of the Catagbacan Port.

The four projects that would have substantial completion by 2022 are part of the multi-billion completed and ongoing projects in Bohol.

The DOTr and PPA have completed 15 seaport development projects in different parts of Bohol: Tagbilaran, Jagna, Tapal Wharf (Ubay), Ubay, Catagbacan (Loon), Tubigon, Talibon, Inabanga, Baclayon, and Aguinning (Carlos P. Garcia).

Meanwhile, The DOTr and the PPA are still implementing 6 more seaport projects that are ongoing in Maribojoc, Getafe, Buenavista and Bien Unido.

For Bohol’s commercial ports, the DOTr and PPA is developing the Port of Maribojoc and converting it into a container port. To date, the port improvement project is at 95.095% as of March 2021.

The Port of Getafe project includes the construction of back-up area which is now at 42.550% completed as of March 2021.

For the Port of Tagbilaran, PPA is implementing the construction of additional fastcraft berth which is now at 90.614% as of March 2021. This is set to be completed in May 2021.

For the Port of Tubigon, projects include the construction of back-up area with continuous RORO Ramp and is now 42.55 as of March 2021. The project is set to be finished in July 2022.

As to Bohol’s social tourism ports, up on the list is Barangay Asinan Port in Buenavista which include the repair of damaged causeway and construction of passenger shed Status now at 46% with completion set in March 2021.

In Bien Unido, the port of Bien Unido project includes the construction of causeway which is now at 8.43% and is set for completion by February 2021.

“This month, I will finish Maribojoc Port, r at least have it operational by May and latest in June,” he said.

On this he urged Boholanos to take care of these vital infrastructure that would connect Bohol to its neigboring islands.

“Take care and use the gifts properly so many could still use this for a long time, he urged. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

DIVERSIFYING INTO ANOTHER RELIABLE INDUSTRY. With Bohol’s services sector badly affected by the coronavirus disease, Bohol Gov Arthur Yap asks the DOTR to help Bohol in a paradigm shift to other equally reliable sector that can help Bohol attain better economic resilience. DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said Bohol can work on its logistics, packaging and industries, thus the support for connectivity and mobility in newly developed ports come. With Sec Tugade are PPA general manager Jay Daniel Santiago, Gov Art Yap, House Transport Committee Chair Edgar Sarmiento of Samar and Tagbilaran Port Manager Engr. James Gantalao. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

WALKING THE TALK. Literally, DOTr secretary Arthur Tugade leads local officials in inspecting the almost completed container Port of Maribojoc. The Municipal Port which sits in front of Tagbilaran City in the bay, would be opened to offload containerized cargoes to decongest and make Tagbilaran Tourism port safer and wider. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)

DAR gives nod to 'Gulay sa Buhay,' 

'Bahay Magsasaka' projects in Catigbian

CATIGBIAN, Bohol, April 19 (PIA) -- Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Sec. John Castriciones approves “technically” the request of the Catigbian Sangguniang Bayan for DAR to establish in the town a Gulay sa Buhay and Farmers’ Housing Project.

During the DAR secretary’s visit in the town to deliver Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) to farmer-beneficiaries of the government’s comprehensive agrarian reform program, the town officials presented to the secretary Resolution No. 2021-04-73 which stated the request.

The Municipality of Catigbian, with its vision of providing holistic development to its people, is continuously seeking resources from its coffers and other national and provincial linkages to realize its dream of ensuring delivery of basic services, the resolution states as read by Municipal Local Civil Registrar Doris Dinorog-Obena.

The municipality hopes to avail of the Gulay sa Buhay program of DAR which would encourage farmers to practice urban farming, thus alleviating poverty and eradicating hunger by producing fresh and healthy vegetables for family consumption and a possible source of additional income.

Gulay sa Buhay, according to Castriciones, started in Tondo during the pandemic.

To help the parish, DAR thought of giving vegetable supplies for free to a parish.

However, Castriciones added they do not want to project a mendicant culture, so they sought ways to make it sustainable and sensible.

“We saw a soccer field that was abandoned. They converted the empty, idle soccer field into a vegetable garden. We provided the seeds, technology and the inputs, and in one harvest, they earned about P40,000. That was when we saw it could work,” the secretary explained.

Since then, Gulay sa Buhay has been replicated in DAR areas in the provinces.

Meanwhile, in Catigbian, some farmers in areas hit by the 2013 earthquake have not fully recovered from the physical and economic impact of the disaster.

These people need assistance like housing and livelihood, the SB stated to convince the DAR secretary to give in to their request.

Farmers Housing Project or DAR’s Bahay Magsasaka, is a government low cost housing for farmers, according to the secretary.

As to the project, Castriciones disclosed that the agency has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development with Sec. Eduardo del Rosario so the program could be funded by the Home Development Mutual Fund of the government.

“In our attempt to change the landscape of the rural areas, we have asked Local Government Units to find us not less than 4,000 square meters where we can build packets of low cost houses for farmers,” he said.

The house measures 36 square meters, with two bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, toilet and granite floor, and equipped with solar power for energy.

Castriciones said the house can be built on-site, or within the lot which they awarded to farmers, or to an off-site area where 20-40 houses can be clustered in a community.

"We intend to create an atmosphere where farmers are given decent homes they can call as their own," he said.

For the resolution, Castriciones assured the town that as long as they partner with DAR on the endeavour, the government will give its support.

"This is technically approved, but we would need the LGU to help us implement the project to make its succeed," he said. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

BALAY SA MAG-UUMA. DAR Sec. John Castriciones has "technically" approved Catigbian’s request to establish a "Balay sa Mag-uuma" low-cost housing in the town for farmer-beneficiaries of the agrarian reform program as well as the "Gulay ng Buhay" project to help improve the conditions of the farmers. He stressed, however, that these would not work without the LGU's cooperation. (rahc/PIA7/Bohol)

DAR brings 4 CLOAS to Bohol farmers

CATIGBIAN, Bohol, April 19 (PIA) -- Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Sec. John Castriciones flew to Bohol to personally deliver a presidential mandate to distribute all lands to eligible farmers in his term.

Castriciones delivered the Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) or land titles to farmer beneficiaries in a program called "DAR to Door."

Along with Undersecretaries Virginia Orogo and Atty. Emily Padilla, and regional, provincial and municipal DAR officials, Castriciones visited the Agrarian Reform Communities (ARC) of Catigbian on April 16 to turn over four agricultural and residential titles covering .4594 hectares to Matias B. Nalo, 57, and Merinesa Sequina, 55, of Triple Union Catigbian. 

Nalo, who has been farming from the property of LPBS Commercial, has used part of his farming income to send three kids to school, producing a seaman who is now taking care of repairing the family house.

"This is a very valuable proof that farming can, in fact, improve one’s lot, and with that, the government is delivering this land title to you," Castriciones said as he presented the land titles that the couple have been waiting for for over 25 years.

Also receiving a land title for his tilled farm at LPBS Commercial is Leoncio Sequina, 56, who along with spouse Elena, 58, of Triple Union, received .5407 hectares from the government.

The couple has four kids, one in high school and three in college.

From Triple Union, Castriciones went to Causwagan Catigbian, where Michael Garzano, 55, and spouse, Rosalina Maghuyop, received 1.5028 hectares and .3155 hectares from the property of Ramon Lopingcao.

The couple has two kids, a Grade 3 pupil and a nautical graduate.

Still harvesting much less than the usual one-hectare yield due to lack of irrigation in the farm, Castricciones directed local DAR officials to survey the area to seek potential source of water where the government could build a solar irrigation system, as well as help the couple with their farm inputs.

A few hundred meters from the Garzano farm is another beneficiary whom Castricciones visited to personally hand over the title.

Rubin Restituto, 53, and wife Maritess Dalangin, 44, received their land from Ramon Lopingcao covering .2222 of a hectare from the huge landholding in Causwagan Norte.

"Farming proves still that it can emancipate the farmer from being enslaved to the land they till," Castriciones said, noting that the beneficiaries who have been farming while waiting for their land titles have already sent their children to college.

Castriciones lauded Catigbian mayor Elizabeth Mandin, who is a daughter of an agrarian reform beneficiary.

“The right education, the right training, and the most important part in a life of a farmer is for them to receive the land they can call their own,” Castriciones emphasized.

"DAR to Door" is an innovation that allows for faster awarding of CLOAS and jumpstarts the farmers, who will now become land owners, to heed the call for food production amid the pandemic.

Under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law as amended by Republic Act 9700, DAR is mandated to provide an “equitable distribution and ownership of land... 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."

To DAR officials and employees joining him during the event, Castriciones urged: "We have to exert more efforts so the farmers can receive their own piece of land, as fast, in compliance with the mandate of the president."

Pres. Rodrigo Duterte has directed Castriciones to turn over to eligible farmers all the lands that can be given, and finish everything before his term ends. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol

DAR TO DOOR SERVICE DELIVERY. DAR Sec. John Castriciones (in red) turns over the CLOA to Elena Sequina whose parents have been tilling the land they are now entitled to. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

LANDOWNERS NOW. From being farmers who have to till the land and share their harvest, spouses Michael Garzano and Rosalina Maghuyop are now land owners. DAR Sec. John Castriciones directed DAR Bohol to pursue a survey to find a possible water source for the Garzanos so they can avail of the solar irrigation that could enhance their harvest. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)