BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Sixty-four farmers belonging to peasant group Task Force Mapalad (TFM) in the town of Hinigaran, Negros Occidental received Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
Information released by TFM revealed that the awarding of CLOAs took place on Feb. 3.
“In spite of some hitches, DAR and its local focal persons successfully installed the ARBs (agrarian reform beneficiaries) as new owners of 31.7606 hectares of landholdings now under Republic of the Philippines (RP) Title No.1659-C,” the group said.
The area is situated in Hacienda Bacagay, Barangay Aranda, Hinigaran.
The landholdings were under the supervision of Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officers (MARPOs) Dolly Chua and Drexel Pajarilla.
Also supervising the peaceful installation were MARPOs Donn Reginald Gregory de Leon and Betheresa Zamora (District V coordinator).
Both De Leon and Chua reminded the ARBs not to engage in “arriendo”, sale or any form of conveyance for their awarded land.
Such practices, they stressed, are grounds for the cancellation of their CLOAs.
DAR secretary Bernie Cruz who, at the time, was in Negros, lauded both their provincial people and the ARBs for the success of the Hinigaran installation.
He also thanked both the police and the military in Negros for being supportive of DAR by ensuring a peaceful installation of the ARBs.
Cruz said DAR is bound to distribute around 100,000 hectares of “CARPable” lands in Negros still.
With less than four months left prior to President Rodrigo Duterte’s departure from office, he’s optimistic to distribute at least 60 to 70 percent of the total undistributed lands in the entire country.
He said, it’s his mandate to everyone in the provincial offices of DAR to explore peaceful means and [always] look for “win-win” solutions in the implementation./PN
