A total of 114 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Tarlac and Nueva Ecija received emancipation patents (EP) and certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) comprising 131 land titles covering 78.2903 hectares of lands.
Atty Luis Meinrado C. Pañgulayan MNSA, CESO I, DAR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and Research Office led the distribution of two (2) EP and 129 CLOAs to the 114 ARBs held in Tarlac Capitol Function Hall, San Vicente, Tarlac City
Nelia C. Leonardo, 52 years old, and her sister Maria Theresa Carlos, 37 years old from Lourdes, Cabanatuan City were emotional upon receiving the EP. The EP is named after their mother, Marianita A. Carlos, who died in 2017.
“We waited so long for this title, seven (7) decades, thank you to the DAR,” Leonardo said.
Leonardo disclosed that her father, Sergio Carlos, is one of the farmers and tenants of Spouses Ignacio Gonzales and Marina Gonzales, and has been cultivating the parcels of land even before World War II and the said parcel of land has been subject to a court proceeding up to the Supreme Court.
During the event, Pañgulayan announced that the President would sign into law the New Agrarian Emancipation Act on July 7, Friday this year, a remarkable event representing a significant step forward in implementing the agrarian reform program.
“President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., through the DAR, wants to give the farmers true freedom from poverty and loans, this milestone in conferring land ownership also ensures long-term security for the beneficiaries,“ he said.
Pañgulayan added that future ARBs would be awarded lands free with the balances of unpaid obligations of ARBs to landowners to be assumed by the Land Bank of the Philippines.
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