Farmers in Masbate received electronic land titles from the Department of Agrarian Reform.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) handed electronic land titles (e-titles) to 97 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Masbate province under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project during the simultaneous distribution ceremonies held at the Gaisano Mall in Masbate City and the Claveria Covered Court in Claveria, Burias Island, Masbate.
"Matapos na makita namin ang aming pangalan sa titulo ng lupa, alam namin na ito ay legal at ganap na sa amin ang pagmamay-ari ng lupa Sa Diyos ang kaluwalhatian, biniyayaan ako ng DAR ng kapirasong lupang ito," farmer Joaquin Burga Jr. said after receiving his e-title.
On the website of DAR, the e-titles comprise a total of 202.8238 hectares of farmland in Aroroy, Cataingan, Cawayan, Mandaon, Uson, Milagros, San Pascual, and Claveria.
DAR Bicol Regional Director Rodrigo Realubit said the e-titles has given the farmer-beneficiaries complete control of the land they till.
"Land titles distributed to farmer beneficiaries open the door to promising opportunities and brighter hopes for improving their quality of life," Realubit said.
From Cawayan municipality, 51 farmers got their first tax declarations at the ceremony from Masbate Provincial Assessor, Engr. Voltaire Abayon.
Another farmer who received an e-title, Renato Dumangas, expressed his joy after receiving it since he had been waiting for it for over 49 years.
Program Officer II Herald Tambal of DAR-Masbate Provincial Agrarian Reform emphasized that the big success was attributed to the teamwork and solid relationship between the DAR and the Registry of Deeds (ROD) in Masbate.
He noted that since January 2022, the province has registered 278 e-titles totaling 513.7288 hectares of land, with 128 farmer-beneficiaries receiving 220.3129 hectares in May of this year.
“From 2021 to 2022, Masbate targets to subdivide a total of 475 collective certificates of land ownership award (CCLOAs) or 9.576 million hectares,” he said
“Over 6,256 hectares from these have already been validated with the necessary documents being generated for distribution as individual e-titles to the beneficiaries by the end of 2022 or early next year,” he continued.
Through the SPLIT project, lands distributed under CCLOAs will be subdivided and farmer-beneficiaries who were previously awarded lands under collective ownership would be issued individual land titles.
Tags: #DAR, #MasbateFarmers, #ElectronicLandTitles