The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) announced on Thursday the distribution of certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) to 113 farmers from Tarlac province.
The distribution of 153 CLOAs held at the Bella Plaza in San Sebastian in Tarlac City was led by Agrarian Reform Secretary John R. Castriciones on January 31. The CLOAs covered a total of 135 hectares of agricultural lands.
Among the recipients are farmer, beneficiaries from the municipalities of Anao, Moncada, San Manuel, Victoria, San Jose, Tarlac City, Capas and Concepcion, all in the province of Tarlac.
The activity was also in time with the holding of the first Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations Summit in the province. Castriciones was joined during the event by Undersecretary for Support Services Rosalina L. Bistoyong, OIC-Regional Director Atty. Judita Tungol, Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Ileona B. Pangilinan, Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer I Geraldine B. Yumul and Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer I for Hacienda Luisita Marcelino S. Marata.
“The process of distributing lands to the landless farmers is just the first step toward attaining a real change in the lives of the beneficiaries,” Castriciones said in a statement.
The DAR chief added that “binding together to build strong, vibrant and self-reliant organizations with the assistance of the DAR and introducing more innovative ways of increasing the farmer’s income by empowering every member of the household through various off-farm and nonfarm projects will spell out the big difference.”
He also emphasized the thrust of the Duterte administration is to liberate the poor farmers in the country from the bondage of tenancy and poverty.
At present, the province of Tarlac has a total of 124 DAR-assisted farmers’ organizations. Castriciones hopes to institutionalize housing, livelihood and scholarship programs for the farmers’ wives or husbands and their children so that Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program beneficiaries will no longer have to pawn their CLOAs to fund the basic needs of their family.