[SPLIT News Alert] DAR Speeds Up ARB Validation in Hilongos, Leyte

HILONGOS, Leyte – Armando (not his real name), a farmer and former rebel, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for sparing him and fellow farmers from the costly process of conducting a subdivision survey and applying for individual land titles, made possible through DAR’s Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project.

Armando, 59, was awarded a collective Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) in 2000 after surrendering in 1994 and joined other beneficiaries of Project SPLIT, which aims to empower agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) by granting them individual titles.

"Thank you, we were spared from paying the fees for land titling," he shared.

Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer (MARPO) Ruben Rebato and his field validation team embarked on a rigorous hike to Barangay San Antonio, Hilongos' remotest village. Despite the steep and rugged terrain, the team continued their mission to validate ARBs for 23 landholdings covered by collective CLOAs in the area.

Rebato reported that 75 ARBs were validated for the 23 CLOAs, which cover an aggregate area of 180.8720 hectares. He emphasized that this is just the first step, with a subdivision survey to follow. Once the exact areas for each ARB are determined, individual land titles will be issued.

The Project SPLIT, funded by the World Bank, seeks to convert collective CLOAs into individual, electronically generated titles, ensuring more secure land tenure for ARBs and strengthening their property rights, enabling them to fully benefit from the land awarded to them.

Armando recalled that in 1984, their village was infiltrated by the New People’s Army (NPA), and many residents, himself included, were forced to join the group. However, by 1994, when government soldiers arrived, Armando and others surrendered, eventually becoming potential beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The DAR’s land distribution efforts form part of the government’s commitment to the End Local Communist Armed Conflict (ELCAC) program, a whole-of-nation approach aimed at addressing the insurgency problem in the country.

Project SPLIT not only