The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) MIMAROPA remains the top performing region in the country on the Land Tenure Security Program for the last two years, Regional Director Marvin V. Bernal reported during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas’ 5th episode, June 25, in Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.
The Land Tenure Security Program, also known as the Land Tenure Services, is the program of DAR that ensures that the farmers and farm workers receive tenurial security for the lands they till, and involves the redistribution of government and private agricultural lands to landless farmers.
“Noong nakaraaang taon, ang lalawigan ng Occidental Mindoro at Palawan ay pinangaralan bilang top provinces in terms of land tenure improvement [at] land tenure security program, kung saan maraming pribadong lupain ang nasakop ng programa at naipamahagi na sa mga agrarian reform beneficiary,” Bernal said.
(Last year, Occidental Mindoro and Palawan provinces were hailed as top provinces in land tenure improvement and land tenure security program where many private lands were distributed to agrarian reform beneficiaries.)
Part of the accomplishment is the issuance of CLOA to the farmers in Sablayan who are tilling the land formerly owned by Golden Country Farms Incorporated (GCFI).
In a previous report, Bernal said, “The farmers have been in [a] protest for more than two decades because the owner of GCFI, the land they have been tilling for so long, refused to include its land under the government’s [Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program].”
The CLOA was awarded in June 2023 to 330 farmers.
Since President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s term, 7,284 titles have been awarded through the program. 925 of which are issued through a Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA), and 6,359 were given electronic or e-titles under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling or SPLIT Project.
Collectively, these titles cover 8,346.83 hectares of agricultural land, benefiting 7,166 farmers in the region, DAR MIMAROPA reported.
In addition to providing lands to farmers, DAR provides capability buildings to help agrarian reform beneficiaries effectively manage their lands and maximize their agricultural yield.
The Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas is a nationwide, simultaneous weekly forum spearheaded by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) through the Philippine Information Agency. The program, which started last May 28, is aired on multi-media platforms every Tuesday at 9 A,M. featuring one government agency.
The platform aims to amplify the policies, activities, and accomplishments of each featured department, consistent with the mandate of the administration’s Bagong Pilipinas (BP) governance and leadership agenda. (DSG/PIA MIMAROPA-Occidental Mindoro)