The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) distributed 1,700 electronic titles to 885 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur, covering more than 1,027 hectares of land, Friday.
This is under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project funded by World Bank and is aimed at subdividing around 1.38 million hectares of Collective Certificates of Land Ownership Awards nationwide.
“This project aims to provide ARBs with clear, defined property rights, empowering them to enhance agricultural productivity on their individually titled lands,” DAR Regional Director Maria Ana Francisco said during the ceremonial awarding ceremony at Bacarra auditorium.
“These certificates are a testament to the decades of hard work that you have put in to cultivate and make your farmlands productive,” Senator Francis Tolentino, the event’s guest of honor, said.
In his speech, DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III urged beneficiaries to take good care of the land awarded to them and make it fruitful for their future.
For Imelda Comahig, 68, of Banna, Ilocos Norte, the long wait is over as she finally received her electronic title.
“I am so grateful to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for having this program. The individual titling is free and we no longer need to spend much. It took us so long to wait but finally, the long wait is over,” she said in Ilokano.
In addition to the distribution of e-titles, DAR also turned over agricultural production loan amounting to around PHP3.5 million to seven agrarian reform beneficiary organizations, both in the provinces of Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte.
It is part of the accessible loans for empowered, resilient, and transform agrarian reform beneficiary organizations program, a collaborative lending initiative by DAR, Landbank of the Philippines, and Agricultural Credit Policy Council.
The funding is meant to support the production of rice, corn, and high-value crops and the acquisition of small farm implements to enhance farmers agricultural productivity. (Leilanie Adriano)
(Source: Philippine News Agency)