LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte (PIA) – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Region 1 remains dedicated to supporting farmers through various programs.
These include land titling services, agrarian emancipation, bridge construction, farm machinery distribution, and other essential support.
DAR-Region 1 Regional Director Maria Ana Francisco presented that the agency is serving 112,193 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs), 490 Agrarian Reform Beneficiary Organizations (ARBOs), and 155 Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs) in 783 barangays across the four provinces of the region.
According to Francisco, since the agency was established in 1972, they have already distributed 155,624 regular land titles called Emancipation Patents and Certificates of Land Ownership Awards to 112,067 ARBs, covering 138,416.22 hectares of land in the region.
Of this number, 43,949 titles have been distributed in Ilocos Norte, 23,383 in Ilocos Sur, 21,164 in La Union, and 67,128 in Pangasinan.
Moreover, under Republic Act 11953, or the New Agrarian Emancipation Act (NAEA), some 4,490 ARBs from the region have already received an estimated 4,360 hectares of agricultural land.
Under the NAEA, the national government is waiving its right to collect from ARBs all unpaid outstanding loans, amortizations, interests, penalties, and surcharges arising from the agricultural lands awarded to them under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
This law aims to make the farmer-beneficiaries of the government’s agrarian reform program debt-free.
Francisco appealed to the beneficiaries not to sell the lands awarded to them.
“We hope that you cherish your land titles because you can bequeath them to their children. The main reason we are distributing land is to help the beneficiaries, and for them to have a legacy to their children, it can also help in their livelihood,” she said during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas episode on June 25.
DAR has five Condonation Response Desks (CORDs) across the four provinces in the region to facilitate and speed up the issuance of Certificates of Condonation with Release of Mortgage (COCROM) to activate outright condonation of the financial obligations of beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, 449 ARBOs have received some P79,739,700 worth of machinery and tools through the SuRE ARCs, or Sustainable and Resilient Agrarian Reform Communities Project.
It aims to increase the agricultural productivity and income of the ARBs through mechanization programs.
Under this program, 473 pieces of farm machinery and equipment have been distributed, along with 2,107 packs of organic fertilizers, five green houses with complete facilities, and five greenhouses for tissue culture.
A total of P126,208,115 worth of farm machinery and equipment was also given to 101 ARBOs through the agency’s Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Support (CRFPS), Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (PAHP), Village Level Farm-Focused Enterprise Development (VLFED), and Community-managed Potable Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (CPWaSH).
“As for the Tulay ng Pangulo para sa Kaunlarang Pang-Agraryo, since President Marcos Jr. took office in 2022, we have already completed four bridges as of May 2024, amounting to P36,416,612.24, which continues to benefit some 1,928 ARBs in the region,” she said.
Lastly, 11 irrigation projects have been completed with an irrigable area of 764 hectares, servicing 832 ARBs and 11 ARCs around the region. (AMB/EJFG, PIA Ilocos Norte)
