- CHERYL G. CRUZ
More than 65 hectares of land were distributed to 63 farmers by the Department of Agrarian Reform–Sagay City on Sept. 14 and 19.
Municipal agrarian reform program officer (MARPO) Mart Deraja, who led the installation rites in two venues together with his staff, said their mission at DAR “is to bring social justice to the landless farmers, and today, we give you a new start. Take care of this asset, bear good harvests, and be responsible (in paying) the tax dues as new landowners.”
The DAR said 16 farmers each received their Owner’s Duplicate Copy of the Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) Sept. 19 over the 15.4367 hectares of land in Brgy. Bulanon, Sagay City, Negros Occidental, and previously owned by Joffre Dela Paz.
Forty-seven farmers, meanwhile, are the new owners of a 49.8486-hectare formerly managed by the Vasquez Development Corporation in Barangay Old Sagay, and the turnover ceremony was held Sept. 14.
The DAR said public and private agricultural landholdings acquired by the government are distributed to tenants, farmers, farmworkers, and others qualified to become agrarian reform beneficiaries, in the form of CLOAs covering one contiguous tract, or several parcels of land cumulated up to a maximum of three hectares per ARB.
Meanwhile, the DAR reorganized the Barangay Agrarian Reform Committee (BARC) of barangays Alangilan and Granada in Bacolod City Sept. 16.
MARPO Tessie Pedrosa, who led the activity, said in a press release that the reorganization of the BARC in the grassroots “is to retool and capacitate our community leaders”.
It aimed to reestablish BARC to assist in the identification of qualified beneficiaries and landowners in the barangay, attest to the accuracy of the initial parcellary mapping of the beneficiary’s tillage, support the initial determination of a land’s value, mediate and conciliate between parties involved in an agrarian dispute including matters related to tenurial and financial arrangements, coordinate in the delivery of support services to beneficiaries, and guide qualified beneficiaries in obtaining credit from lending institutions, the DAR said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. already signed Executive Order No. 4 Sept. 13, which postpones amortization and interest payment for ARBs for one year.
More than 654,000 ARBs will benefit from the EO as they can now use the money supposedly for amortization and interest payments in purchasing farm inputs or as starting capital for any business enterprise they may consider venturing into.
In his first State of the Nation Address in July, Marcos urged Congress to pass a law that will lift the burden off ARBs who have loan dues so that they could concentrate on farm productivity.
“The condonation of the existing agrarian reform loan will cover the amount of P58.125 billion benefiting around 654,000 ARBs and involving 1.18 million hectares of awarded lands,” Marcos said./CGC
