By CHRIS V. PANGANIBAN
PROSPERIDAD, Agusan del Sur– President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday vowed to distribute all lands to the landless farmers before his term ends in 2028 as he assured that his administration will pursue all legal avenues to address the longstanding agrarian concerns of farmers.
The president was here to led the distribution of land titles to 3,184 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Caraga region held at the Datu Lipus Makapandong Cultural Center within the provincial capitol complex.
“Ayoko ng Band Aid solusyon. Ang hanap ko ay permanenteng lunas (I don’t want band aid solution. I’m looking for permanent result,” President Marcos said in his speech .
He was referring to Executive Order 4 he issued on September 13, 2022 that imposed a one-year moratorium on the payment of amortization and interest on agrarian debt, which provides farmers with some financial breathing space from their debts.
He said, however, that the EO is only a temporary solution to the farmers’ problem, prompting him to sign into law the Republic Act 11953, or the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, benefiting over 600,000 ARBs nationwide.
He vowed with Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III to distribute all lands to agrarain reform beneficiaries before their term ends.
Estrella III said the distribution of land titles will boost the agricultural activities in the region and uplift the farmers’ economic standing “because giving these thousands of landless farmers a land to call their own would spark confidence in them to work harder and to make it more productive.”
The President noted that the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) was able to distribute over 90,000 land titles last year, which almost doubled the original target of only 50,000 titles.
A total of 4,659 hectares of agricultural lands were distributed to the ARBs making them landowners with Certficate of Land Ownership Awards.
The DAR also distributed P8.9 million worth of farm machinery and equipment to 11 agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs) in the region which are under the Climate-resilient Farm Productivity and Support Program (CRFPSP) and in partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA) for the upscaling of the coconet and biofertilizers enterprise.
“Agrarian reform remains an unrealized dream because the emancipation of farmers does not end with the receipt of titles declaring ownership of the land they are already tilling. They must be unshackled from debt, freed from high cost of inputs, relieved of constraints that impoverish them,” the President said..
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