PERSONALLY given by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) secretary himself, Atty. John Castriciones, 1,416 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) in Region VI received the Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) during the EP/CLOA Distribution and Turn-over of Common Service Facilities (CSF) on May 15, at Sara National High School, Sara, Iloilo.
In his welcome message, Mayor Jon Aying said that farmers are the heroes of today’s pandemic. He further appreciated DAR’s effort to reach out to the farmers and provide assistance for their welfare.
DAR regional director Atty. Sheila Enciso reminded the farmer landowners of their responsibility especially on payment of taxes and amortization. At the same time, Enciso further emphasized to the ARBs not to sell their lands and to understand if it takes time to process their titles.
Moreover, Cong. Raul Tupas of the 5th Congressional District of Iloilo said the farmers aspire to own the land they are cultivating, thus, the EP/CLOA titles received are gifts and also the fruit of their labor.
“Starting this day, the ARBs are not just ordinary farmers but now should be called landowners. Kung walang magsasaka, walang pagkain sa hapagkainan,” said Castriciones.
As part of the support extended to the ARBs, TESDA regional director Jerry Tizon awarded the certificate of scholarship to qualified ARBs of which 25 of them will be granted a scholarship for the TESDA Skills Training Program.
Contributing to the blessings, three Ilonggo ARBOs particularly the Nagkaisa Agrarian Reform Cooperative, San Luis ARB Association, and Bagaygay ARB Organization received P1,789,565 worth of CSFs turned over to their care.
Also, the partnership between DAR-Iloilo, the local government of 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 project memorandum of agreement signing. This step will help them venture into agroenterprise and find a stable market through institutional buyers.
After the morning program in Sara NHS, the whole team proceeded to Brgy. Devera, Sara, Iloilo for DAR-to-Door and to LADAP Agrarian Reform Cooperative for ARBO visit and to check on the welfare of the farmer-beneficiaries.
A DAR-to-Door was also conducted in Brgy. Calangag, Batad, Iloilo where 20 ARBs experienced the serious commitment of DAR to make sure they would receive their long-awaited land titles.
Aside from Iloilo who received 751 CLOAs, the following are the provinces and the number of CLOAs distributed: Aklan with 51 CLOAs; Antique with 105 CLOAs; Capiz with 70 CLOAs; and Guimaras with 439 CLOAs./PN
