ILOILO – A total of 1,416 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Western Visayas finally received their certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs).
No less than Agrarian Reform Secretary Atty. John Castriciones distributed the CLOAs to the beneficiaries in a ceremony held on May 15, 2021 at Sara National High School in Sara, Iloilo.
With CLOAs, the ARBs will not just be ordinary farmers but now landowners, Castriciones stressed in his keynote speech.
He also emphasized the importance of farmers in the society.
“Kung walang magsasaka, walang pagkain sa hapagkainan,” Castriciones said.
Meanwhile, Atty. Sheila Enciso, director of Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Region 6, reminded farmer land owners of their responsibility especially on payment of taxes and amortization.
Enciso further emphasized to the ARBs not to sell their lands, and to understand if it takes time to process their titles.
Iloilo fifth district Rep. Raul “Boboy” Tupas, on the other hand, said it is the aspiration of the farmers to own the land they are cultivating, thus, the emancipation patents or CLOA titles they have received are gifts and also the fruit of their labor.
Meantime, Sara’s Mayor Jon Aying, who welcomed the participants, said farmers are the heroes of today’s pandemic. He recognized the effort of DAR to reach out to the farmers and provide assistance for their welfare.
Aside from the CLOA distribution, Castriciones also led the turn-over of Common Service Facilities (CSF) to the beneficiaries.
Three organizations – Nagkaisa Agrarian Reform Cooperative, San Luis ARB Association and Bagaygay ARB Organization – received P1,789,565 worth of CSFs.
Also, the partnership between DAR-Iloilo, LGU San Dionisio and two ARB organizations namely Northern San Dionisio Iloilo and Manduawak Agrarian Reform Cooperative was made possible through the Linking Smallholder Farmers to Market with Microfinance (LinkSFarMM) project memorandum of agreement signing.
This important step will help them venture into agro-enterprise and find stable market through institutional buyers.
On the other hand, as part of the support extended to the ARBs, Regional Director Mr. Jerry Tizon of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) awarded certificates of scholarship to qualified ARBs. Twenty-five of them will be granted scholarship for TESDA Skills Training Program./PN
