Nearly a hundred farmers in Central Visayas are now owners of the piece of land they are tilling after having received their certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-Region 7.
Lawyer Resty Osias, DAR-7 regional director, said in a statement his office distributed CLOAs to farmer-beneficiaries in Barangay Vito in the town of Minglanilla, southern Cebu province on Thursday.
On October 7 and 8, Osias led the distribution of CLOAs to farmers in Barangay Vallehermoso in Carmen town and Barangay Ilihan in Ubay town, both in Bohol province.
Paulo Camposo, one of the recipients from Barangay Vallehermoso, became emotional as he thanked the Duterte administration for fulfilling its promise to distribute agrarian lands to the poor farmers.
He said after more than 30 years of occupying the land as mere settlers, they could now till the farm lot as owners.
He also expressed hope the land awarded to him by the government through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) would help give his family a good future.
“Dako jud kaayo ang akong pasalamat sa DAR ilabi na sa mga opisyales nga nagpasiugda aning programaha nga sama nako nga usa ka mag-uuma nga makaangkon og yuta nga mamahimo nako nga kabilin sa akong mga anak (I am very thankful to DAR especially to the officials who are promoting this program that can benefit farmers like me to get a land that my children can inherit),” Camposo said.
Osias encouraged CARP beneficiaries to organize an Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organization (ARBOs) to enable them to advance their agricultural production capabilities and distribute their farm produce through the Linking Smallholder Farmers to Markets and Microfinance (LinkSFarMM) program of DAR.
Under the program, DAR equips agrarian reform beneficiaries with agri-entrepreneurial knowledge and connects them with buyers for their produce.
Apart from the distribution of CLOAs, the regional legal division and Cebu provincial legal division also renders legal assistance to farmers who are recipients and would-be recipients of CLOAs from the government. (PNA)
