Viviana Carmen, 50, a former tenant and one of the recipients of e-titles, expressed her gratitude to the President and Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III.
She said they no longer need to share profits with the former landowners. This allows them to use the money for their daily needs and to support their children’s education.
She and other 481 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) from different parts of Northern Samar received their Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) at Stardome, Victoria, Northern Samar on November 12, 2024.
There are 592 electronically generated titles (e-titles) covering a total area of 865.6872 hectares of farmland.
DAR Assistant Secretary for External Affairs and Communications Operations Rodolfo Castil Jr. led the distribution alongside DAR Eastern Visayas Regional Director Robert Anthony Yu and Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez.
Castil explained that the e-titles were generated under the World Bank-assisted Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project after collective CLOAs previously issued to ARBs were subdivided.
The SPLIT project subdivides lands covered by collective CLOAs to improve land tenure security and strengthen ARBs’ property rights.
Patunay po ito na ang ating pangulo, si President Bongbong Marcos, ay committed na mabigyan kayo ng magandang kabuhayan,” Castil said.
He also urged the beneficiaries to take care of the lands granted under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) so their families would inherit it.
According to Yu, the lands associated with the e-titles are located in the municipalities of Bobon, Capul, Victoria, San Antonio, and Gamay.
As chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC), Romualdez ensured that residents of Region 8, particularly in Samar Island, received land titles.
This initiative, in collaboration with DAR, supports the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (ECLIP) as part of the whole-of-nation approach to addressing insurgency issues.
During the same event, Castil presented a check for P20 million to the local government unit of Catarman for the concreting of the Barangay Cag-abaca to Barangay San Julian farm-to-market road. (AAC with reports from Jose Alsmith L. Soria, DAR-8 Regional Information Officer)
