PBBM awards land titles to over 2k agrarian reform beneficiaries in Central Visayas

DUMAGUETE CITY — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday distributed 3,855 Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) to 2,426 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) here as part of the administration’s commitment to distribute land titles to all beneficiaries.

The agricultural lands covering an area of 2,866.5 hectares are situated in the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, and Negros Oriental.

“We know many of you have been dreaming and working hard to have your own land for a long time. Today we are making your dreams come true,” Marcos said to farmer beneficiaries.

The President said that in Central Visayas (Region 7), the DAR has already provided more than 4,000 hectares of land this year.

In total, DAR has already provided 15,000 hectares of land to more than 9,000 ARBs nationwide. This is equivalent to 63 percent of the 23,000 hectares distribution target of DAR for 2024.

“We still have a lot of agricultural land in the country to be cultivated and distributed. This is proof of our continued efforts to fulfill our promise that we will complete the agrarian reform program,” Marcos said.

Semion Academia, a 101-year-old farmer-beneficiary from Bais, Negros Oriental cannot contain his happiness after receiving his land title from the President.

“The land title is finally in my name. I have waited more than 30 years for this. Thank you, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Secretary Estrella, for making my dream a reality,” said Academia.

DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III said that a lot of farmers wait for decades before they can own the land they were tilling. He said he was ordered by President Marcos to quicken the process of land distribution.

"The President said to me 'Make it fast. Even if you don't sleep, just make sure that they receive their titles because they have already waited for a very long time,'" Estrella related.

The event is under the implementation of the DAR’s Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project, which is anchored on improving land tenure security and strengthening the property rights of ARBs by subdividing collective certificates of land ownership award (CCLOAs) previously issued by the DAR.

“Issuing separate