The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in North Cotabato distributed Certificates of Condonation with Release of Mortgage (COCROM) to 40 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Barangay Kibudoc, Matalam, on Tuesday.

Evangeline Bueno, the provincial agrarian reform program officer, said Wednesday that the activity was part of DAR’s mandate to expedite COCROM distribution under the New Agrarian Emancipation Act of 2023 (Republic Act 11953).

“The issuance of these certificates is a crucial step in fulfilling our commitment to empowering ARBs,” Bueno said.

Donald Perocho, the municipal agrarian reform program officer, said the certificates would prompt the Registry of Deeds to cancel liens and encumbrances in favor of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) for lands awarded under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

“As these obligations are condoned, ARBs must continue paying taxes to their local government units as part of their contribution to nation-building,” Perocho said.

Bueno expressed joy at seeing the ARBs receive their COCROMs, particularly those she had worked with during the community’s development into an agrarian reform community (ARC).

One recipient, Lorde Magoncia, proprietor of Deo’s Organic Farm and Nursery and a leader of the Kibudoc Multipurpose Cooperative, expressed gratitude for the program.

“Thank you for this. This is a good start for us this year,” Magoncia said in a radio interview.

An ARC is a barangay or group of barangays within a municipality where most CARP-covered lands have been awarded to a significant number of ARBs. (PNA)