DAVAO CITY—Fifty farmers from Maguindanao province, many of them former Moro guerrilla combatants, became certified agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) after they received their respective emancipation patents from the Bangsamoro government.
The farmers received their patents, or Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA), from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform’s (MAFAR) in time for the commemoration of the first Agrarian Reform Program in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the 33rd Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) month.
Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim said the handover ceremony of CLOA on August 26 held at the Bangsamoro Government Center, Cotabato City covered an agricultural area of 60.1058 hectares situated in Barangay Tanuel, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
Ebrahim said the beneficiaries are mostly former armed fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).
He admonished the beneficiaries to “never sell the awarded land, instead, should take good care of it and develop it for it might be your means of attaining better lives in the future.”
“If you are only given money, perhaps you will consume it in few days now. However, land given to you will never perish and it could be the source of your continuous income that might improve your current living [standards]”, Ebrahim said.
MAFAR Minister Mohammad S. Yacob said his agency is committed to “steadfastly ensure that all lands awarded are for you to cultivate and develop. It may serve as commencement of strong partnership for flourishing agriculture guild towards attaining economic growth.”
Meanwhile, the Bangsamoro Information Office said Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary John Castriciones announced on August 23 the distribution of some 4,800 hectares of agricultural lands for Lanao del Sur farmers in the BARMM in October this year.
Among the beneficiaries would be the displaced residents of Marawi City because of the terror siege in 2017.
“We would distribute idle government-owned lands [GOLs] in Lanao del Sur, which include 1,300 hectares in Marawi City, 1,324.27 hectares in Piagapo, 1,396.05 hectares in Marantao, and 780.02 hectares in Saguiran,” the BIO quoted Castriciones as saying.
Meanwhile in Davao Oriental, the National Housing Authority announced it was giving P30,000 to residents who lost their houses in a fire in Mati City last year. The city government of Mati earlier extended its assistance of P5,000 last year, including food packs and other assistance.