Govt to distribute 800K land titles

THE government aims to distribute at least 800,000 land titles to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s term ends, Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III said Wednesday.

In a chance interview in Malacañang, Estrella said that around 100,000 land titles would be distributed within the year.

He cited the coordination of agencies dealing with land title distribution, saying they agreed to help expedite the release of titles.

«We estimated about 800,000 titles will be given out until the end of the President's term,» Estrella told Palace reporters. «It looks like we can do it because we were able to find a faster way to do it.»

The DAR chief said the distribution of certificates of land ownership award was «chaotic» in the past, which slowed down the distribution process.

In July last year, Marcos signed the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, which condones the amortization of principal payments, interest and penalties on land tilled by farmers.

The new law, Republic Act 11953, will benefit 610,054 ARBs as it writes off P57.557 billion of their loans.

Estrella said he also aims to make «agriculture sexy again» by encouraging the young generation to venture into agriculture.

He said graduates of four-year agriculture courses would also have the chance to acquire government-owned lands, as well as retired police and military personnel and rebel returnees under Executive Order (EO) 75.

«Let's make agriculture sexy again. We have to encourage the young people to go into it. We lure them by EO 75,» he said.