BAGUIO CITY (PIA) — The Department of Agrarian Reform-Cordillera (DAR-CAR) assures that agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) will attain tenurial security on the land they are tilling with the issuance of their individual electronic land titles.
DAR-CAR Regional Director Samuel Solomero, in the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas forum on Tuesday (June 25), said that through the Project SPLIT or Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling, DAR is facilitating the issuance of electronic titles (e-titles) from Collective Certificate of Land Ownership (CCLOA) to every ARB, for free.
Solomero said that for Cordillera, the adjusted global target for Project SPLIT until 2027 is 4,521 CCLOAs covering 40,435 hectares. Based on field validation, average accomplishment from the last quarter of 2021 to May 31, 2024 is 80.19 covering 3,152 CLOAs and 34,731 hectares.
From 2021 to 2023, DA- CAR has distributed 2,888 individual titles from 364 CCLOAs across the Cordillera provinces. As of May 31, 2024, 34 CCLOAs with a total area of 278.9164 areas for 353 ARBs are awaiting registration with the Land Registration Authority.
Earlier this month, DAR-CAR with its provincial offices in Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province distributed 646 e-titles from 75 CCLOAs with a total land area of 586.6507 hectares to farmer-beneficiaries, Chief Agrarian Reform Program Officer Jane Toribio reported.
Aside from tenurial security, possession of electronic land title as proof of ownership enables the ARBs to gain access to credit and microfinance from lending institutions that will enable them to invest on their lands that can lead to increase in income and enhanced food security of their households.
ARB beneficiary Jose Bayas Jr. expressed gratitude to the government as through the DAR-CAR, and the leadership of DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., he now owns the land that he has been tilling since 2001 in Wangal, La Trinidad, Benguet.
“ Idi June 18, 2024, intedyo ti title mi. Apo idi iwaras da t title ko, Jose Bayas Jr., naikkat ti tinik dtoy pusok, naikkat pay sakit t sakak. Itay agsapa napanak ijay area, inikkat ko diay butas ko, apo nagragsak gayam nga baddekan ti daga nga inbagada nga bagim. So agpaspasalamat kami ami kadakao nangnangruna ken ni apo Presidente Bongbong Marcos, Secretary Conrado Estrella III, Regional Director Samuel Solomero, ken PARPO Lailani Cortez,” Bayas said.
[On June 18, 2024, you gave us our land titles. When I received the e – title with my name, Jose Bayas Jr. in it, it took out the thorn in my heart and the pain on my feet. The next day, I went to the area, took off my farming boots and felt the land under my bare feet. I was overwhelmed by the feeling of finally standing on the land I can call my own. So, thank you to all of you, especially to President Bongbong Marcos, Secretary Conrado Estrella III, Regional Director Samuel Solomero and PARPO Lailani Cortez.]
Salomero reiterated that the national government, through DAR and its partner agencies, will continue with its commitment to bring tenurial security and better life to the ARBs under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law and in bringing in more support programs to bring progress to agrarian reform communities.
“We are committed not only in providing essential services, but also to supporting our ARBs in achieving their aspirations. Behind these achievements stands a collaborative effort, all working in unison to realize these goals, including the DAR’s Sariling Lupa, para sa Bagong Bukas na Masagana and Ang Bagong Pilipinas.”
“So, together, we strive to foster equitable land distribution, enhance agricultural production and have agricultural productivity and strengthen tenurial security for our ARBs,” Solomera said. (CCD-PIA CAR)
