A total of 2,164 farmers from Nueva Ecija will finally receive their much-awaited land titles from the government as beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has scheduled the distribution of 216 individual Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs), covering a total of 111.34 hectares of land to 200 landless farmers in the province on Friday, February 19, during ceremonies to be held at Hotel Consuelo in Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija.
Aside from the CLOAs, the DAR will also distribute a total of P1.81 million worth of financial assistance, P1.9-million vital farm machinery and P5.5 million worth of hauling tricycles during the event.
In a news statement released a day ahead of the event, DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones said to be awarded by DAR are financial assistance to two 2 agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations (ARBOs), 2 units of 40-horsepower tractors and 75 hauling tricycles.
DAR Undersecretaries Emily Padilla of the Support Services Office and Virginia Orogo of the Planning, Policy and Research Office will be assisting Castriciones in distributing the package of support from DAR.
The CLOAs to be distributed cover pockets of landholdings that are spread over 12 municipalities and 2 cities in Nueva Ecija.
The Bagong Talavera Agrarian Reform Cooperative, located in Paludpod, Talavera would be the biggest winner as its 16 members would receive financial assistance amounting to P1.44 million under the DAR’s Credit Assistance Program for Program Beneficiaries Development (CAP-PBD) to replenish its funds for loans applied for by its members that is intended for livelihood and other enterprise-development projects.
A total of 11 members of the Talavera Handicraft Makers and Processed Food Producers Cooperative would also get its share of P374,000 credit assistance under the Expanded Assistance to Restore and Install Sustainable Enterprises for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (E-ARISE ARBs) to enable the cooperative to continue serving the financial needs of its members who had been adversely affected by natural calamities, disasters, pests and diseases and viral infections/outbreaks.
He also identified the two lucky ARBOs to be gifted with a tractor each as the Lawang Kupang Farmers ARB Cooperative of San Antonio municipality, benefiting its 80 members; and the Calabalaan Farmers ARB Cooperative of the Science City of Muñoz, with 38 member beneficiaries.
The 75 hauling trikes, locally called as Kolong kolong, to be distributed to 75 ARBO clusters, with a total of 1,819 beneficiaries, was made possible through the DAR’s Convergence for Livelihood Assistance to ARBs Project (CLAAP) in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), while the 2 units of 40-HP tractors was provided under the DAR’s Climate Resilient Farm Productivity Support Project.