By Czarina Nicole Ong Ki The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has continued its assistance to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with the distribution of relief packs to the farmers from Palayan City and Gabaldon in Nueva Ecija. (DAR / MANILA BULLETIN) DAR Secretary John Castriciones led the distribution in the two towns together with Undersecretaries for Support Services Office (SSO) Emily Padilla and Policy, Planning and Research Office (PPRO) Virginia Orogo. The DAR distributed 48 relief packs in Palayan and 44 in Gabaldon. Instead of letting the ARBs line up to get the packs, Castriciones and his officials let them take seats within a safe distance from one another and gave them their packs one by one. "These are just the initial batches. The DAR in this province will continue to distribute relief packs in the coming weeks," Castriciones said. The DAR is currently giving aid to ARBs in 79 provinces through its project called "The PaSSOver: ARBOld Move to Heal as One Act Deliverance of our farmers from Covid-19 Pandemic." The project has already helped a total of 126,565 ARBs nationwide. "We are giving these packs to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on farming families," said Castriciones. Each relief pack contains both supplemental food and non-food items. These include four kilos rice, four canned sardines, four packs instant noodles, two pieces of bath soaps, 10 pieces of washable face masks, and a bottle with 50 pieces of vitamin C.