Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III, accompanied by Senator Imee Marcos, distributed on January 26, 2023, a total of 1,047 land titles to 1,006 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) from the six provinces of Eastern Visayas comprising a total of 1,571 hectares of agricultural lands in the area.
Elvira Dela Pena Hallazgo, an ARB from Brgy. Gibacungan, Tabango, Leyte thanked the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and vowed to enrich the lands they received.
“We sincerely thank the DAR for the land titles which have made us official owners of the land we have been tilling for so many years,” she said.
She disclosed that many of the farmer-beneficiaries have been waiting for decades to get hold of the land titles issued under their names.
The Senator for her part called for farm modernization to boost food production in the region.
“We need to improve our mechanization program and provide our farmers with farm inputs such as fertilizers and hybrid seeds,” Marcos said.
Estrella said the DAR will continue bringing the government closer to the people and make the ARBs feel that his agency is always ready and willing to help them.
“Do not sell your lands. All the support services will be provided to you by our beloved President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Make your awarded lands productive and sustainable for you to become self-reliant food producers of the nation,” Estrella said.
Atty. Robert Anthony Yu, Eastern Visayas Regional Director said most of the individual land titles were processed under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project.
He reminded the farmer-beneficiaries that they would be more secure if they will join farmer organizations where the DAR could immediately channel various support services to improve their lands.
He added that the individual titles will not only benefit the ARBs, but also the local government units where the properties are located, in terms of possible earnings from tax payments that can be collected due to the ownership of land.
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