PBBM awards land titles to 2,769 farmers; vows to finish land distribution before his term ends

PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur--The long wait is over for 2,769 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) as they received their certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday, February 16 in a distribution ceremony held at the Capitol Complex in Patin-ay in this city.

Marcos, together with Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Conrado Estrella III distributed 3,772 CLOAs covering a total area of 4,659 hectares of agricultural lands.

In his speech, he called on government agencies to extend help to farmer-beneficiaries to maximize the opportunity brought about by their newly acquired lands.

“Iyang si Conrad (referring to DAR Secretary Estrella), hindi iyan natutulog. Ang sabi ko sa kanya, kailan ba natin mai-subdivide ang mga consolidated CLOA para maipamahagi na? Kinukulit ko siya kaya’t patuloy ang prosesong ito,” Marcos said.

The DAR has awarded land titles covering 109,199 hectares of land nationwide, benefitting 98,203 ARBs from July 2022 to December 2023.

“Layunin kong matapos ang pamamahagi ng lupang saklaw ng Agrarian Reform Program bago matapos ang aking termino. At ang 3,184 na titulo na ipapamahagi natin sa araw na ito ay patunay ng kanilang patuloy na pagsisikap,” he added.

According to Secretary Estrella, of the 2,769 ARBs, 2,394 were given land titles under the Support to Parcelization of Land for Individual Titling (SPLIT), 350 ARBs from regular land acquisition and distribution, and 27 ARBs from Executive Order 75 (EO 75). The recipient-ARBs are from the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.

The SPLIT project is being implemented to improve land tenure security and provide individual land titles to those who have been awarded with collective Certificates of Land Ownership Award, and EO 75 directs all government instrumentalities to identify all idle public lands for acquisition under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) to be distributed to qualified beneficiaries.

Marcos also said there would be no progress in the country, so long as the local farmers are in debt.

“Agrarian reform remains an unrealized dream because the