- CHERYL G. CRUZ
Some 2,542 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) from Negros Occidental received 4,850 land titles from the Department of Agrarian Reform during the simultaneous mass distribution of Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) as part of the signing of the New Agrarian Emancipation Act by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. July 7.
The Negros ARBs received 2,359 CLOAs under the new lands, and 2,491 CLOAs under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (Split) project of the DAR, covering a total of 2,452.2671 hectares of land in a ceremony at the Cadiz City Arena.
They were part of the 23,699 farmer-beneficiaries nationwide, who were awarded CLOAs, during the signing of the new law, Republic Act No. 11593, in Malacañang.
The law officially condones about P58 billion in arrears incurred by more than 600,000 farmer-beneficiaries, from former president Marcos’ land reform program under Presidential Decree 27, and including ARBs under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of former president Corazon Aquino.
DAR 6 regional director Sheila Enciso said, “We are here to celebrate one of the most significant days in history because our ARBs will now be emancipated from the bondage of the soil. They will also be receiving the land titles of land they deserve to own”.
Enciso reminded every ARB that, although they will now be free from the amortization of principal payments, interest, and penalties of the land they are tilling, they shall also take an oath to not sell their CLOAs.
The CLOA distribution in Cadiz was attended by Regional Agrarian Reform adjudicator Jose Maria Combatir, assistant regional director for Operations Lucrecia Taberna, OIC assistant RD for Administration Lourdes Novilla, Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr., other local chief executives of towns and cities in Negros Occidental, ARB families and DAR personnel.
Marcos Jr., meanwhile, said he envisions that the signing of RA 11593 will enhance the administration’s thrust toward food security, as an additional one million hectares of idle farmlands can now be cultivated by farmers.
He also allayed fears of massive selling of agrarian reform lands given to beneficiary-farmers, saying the government will be extending sufficient technical support to them.
Marcos said that farmers are forced to sell their lands because they have no money to buy agricultural inputs.
With the new agrarian reform system in place, he assured that there would be available options and technical support services for the farmers to continuously till their farmlands.
Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III said in a Presidential Communications Office report they are constantly reminding ARBs that they would have to wait for 10 years before they could sell the lands given to them by the government./CGC
