Department of Land Reform (DLR) Secretary Rene C. Villa made a brief stop in the province on his way to Basco, Batanes on March 17.

Villa, in his short stay in Laoag City, inducted newly appointed Municipal Agrarian Reform Officers (MARO) in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur at the Laoag International Airport (LIA).

Villa, who was welcomed at the airport by DLR-Ilocos Norte chief Milton P. Pascua and his staff, appreciated the Ilocos Norte office’s good performance on DLR programs and projects.

Meanwhile, in the program held at the Northview Hotel in Laoag City, DLR Regional Director Nestor Acosta also inducted the 2005 Department of Agrarian Reform Employee Association (DAREA) led by Winiefred Quidilla, as well as the newly promoted DLR employees, which included one administrative officer II, one attorney III, and an agricultural engineer.

In a related development, Acosta also signed on March 2, 2005 Special Order 015 Series of 2005 clustering six Municipal Agrarian Reform Offices (MAROs) namely Bacarra and Vintar, which would be under MARO Teresa Martinez with official station in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte; Laoag City and Sarrat under MARO Lolita Galang, with official station in Laoag City; Pagudpud, Dumalneg and Adams under MARO Amor Galat with official station in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte; Batac and San Nicolas under MARO Norma de Jesus with official station in Batac, Ilocos Norte; and Currimao and Paoay under MARO Andres Cuaresma with official station in Paoay, Ilocos Norte.

The individual municipal offices which remained were Badoc under MARO Tereza Batuyong; Piddig under MARO Teresita T. Acang; Carasi under MARO Rogelio Jose; Pinili under MARO Eduardo Lucas; Bangui under MARO Exuperio Calantoc; and Burgos under Edgar Alcaraz.

The mergers of DLR’s different divisions are expected not to result in the purging of staff members and the position of administrative officer I is to be created in municipal offices.

This is part of the rationalization program of the DLR under Executive Order 366 signed last year by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Gertrude G. Albano