ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Zubiri seeks additional funding for DAR in 2026 budget bill

Zubiri seeks additional funding for DAR in 2026 budget bill

Published Oct 26, 2025 01:09 pm

At A Glance

  • Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri is pushing for additional funding for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in its proposed 2026 budget, justifying its strong performance in implementing land distribution and support programs for farmers in seeking the augmentation.


Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri is pushing for additional funding for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in its proposed 2026 budget, justifying its strong performance in implementing land distribution and support programs for farmers in seeking the augmentation.

Zubiri made the move during the Friday, October 24’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Finance on the agency’s budget, as he expressed his full support to DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III, noting that the agency has earned the trust of farmers for its consistent delivery of services.

The DAR is seeking a P28-billion allocation for 2026, but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) only approved P17-billion.

Zubiri said the agency deserves additional budget noting that despite much distrust, animosity of the people towards government agencies, DAR is “doing a great job right now.”

“I am here to give my full support to the budget of Sec. Conrad Estrella. I have my full trust and faith in the department (DAR). They are doing a great job right now. In a time when there are so much distrust, animosity and anger of the people, I believe that with the Department of Agrarian Reform, wala pong ganyan (there’s nothing like that),” Zubiri said during the hearing.

“The people are very happy with their performance,” he further stated.

During the hearing, Estrella reported that from July 2022 to August 2025, the agency distributed over 242,000 land titles covering more than 305,000 hectares, benefitting 232,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) across the country.

Estrella also cited the release of a total of 401,001 Certificates of Condonation with Release of Mortgage (COCROMs), lifting P41 billion worth of debts from over 322,000 farmers, effectively freeing them from long-standing land amortization burdens.

Beyond land ownership, the agency reported that DAR intensified infrastructure and capacity-building support, saying that between 2022 and mid-2025, it completed 213 irrigation projects and 344 farm-to-market roads (FMRs), reaching tens of thousands of hectares and farmer households.

The DAR is initially seeking a P28-billion allocation for 2026, but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) only approved P17 billion that adversely affected the department’s support services, one of which is the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) program that subdivides collective land titles into individual certificates.

Zubiri urged Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate finance panel to approve additional funding for DAR, noting that the DBM’s approved for the agency could adversely affect its support services one of which is the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) program.

The SPLIT program, he said, subdivides collective land titles into individual certificates.

“We are all here trying to keep the country afloat. ‘Padayon’ sa Bisaya. Continue your good works that I have seen today in your performance because that’s the one that’s gonna carry us through these troubled times, troubled waters, in our ship of state,” he told the agency during the hearing.

The majority leader commended Gatchalian for finding ways to support line agencies through budget adjustments and help departments like DAR improve on their programs.

“So I am making this appeal, Sen. Sherwin, if I may make a standing motion that we approve it with an additional budget for the department,” he said during the budget hearing.

“This will be money well spent, Mr. Chairman. So let’s augment the budget of the DAR as much as possible,” he stressed.

Related Tags

Migz Zubiri Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) DAR Budget 2026
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.