SORSOGON CITY, Sorsogon (PIA) — A total of 614 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) in Sorsogon province are now certified and legal owners of the lands they have been tilling after the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) released their electronic land titles, officials and ARBs said.
Manuel Nebreja, the provincial agrarian reform program officer for Sorsogon, said the e-title distribution was in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to DAR to improve the ARBs’ security of tenure.
Nebreja said the e-titles were part of the agency’s land parcelization activities to strengthen ARBs’ individual ownership of the lands they are actually tilling.
This undertaking is implemented under the Support to Parcelization of Land through Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project, which aims to expedite the subdivision of collective or co-owned Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CCLOA) into individual land parcels and issue individual titles.
Cecilia Gosmo, a 61-year-old farmer from Barangay Malbog in Magallanes, said that receiving the e-title felt like a dream come true for her family.
Gosmo explained that while the previously issued CCLOA granted them rights to cultivate their own land, they faced numerous challenges regarding land management.
“But now, differences and disputes will surely be avoided because we have the e-titles in our possession. We now truly own the land we farm, and I’m sure my late husband is happy that the title is finally with us,” she said.
She promised to take care of the land and enrich the soil as a way of giving back to President Marcos.
Sixty-seven-year-old Jesus Janoras Frejas expressed that he waited 30 years to own the land he had been tilling. Now that it is truly his, he vowed never to sell it and plans to pass it on to his children.
“Strengthening property ownership will ultimately lead to more successful agricultural ventures,” Nebreja told the Philippine Information Agency.
“When farmers feel secure in their land, they invest more in it, resulting in increased productivity and community development,” Nebreja explained.
With the e-titles, farmers can now secure tax declarations and access financial resources that can help improve their land, he said.
According to Nebreja, under the SPLIT Project, the DAR Sorsogon provincial office has distributed 736 e-titles to ARBs, covering an area of 1,212.9 hectares. (PIA Bicol/Sorsogon)
