A total of 111 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the province of Sarangani have recently received their electronic land titles from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
The distribution of the electronic land titles is part of the DAR’s implementation of parcellation activities under the “Support to Parcelization of Land Through Individual Land Titling,” or “Split,” project to boost the ARB’s individual ownership of the lands they have been tilling for decades.
Implemented under the project, the program aims to fast-track the subdivision of collective or co-owned Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CCLOA) into individual land parcels and issue individual titles.
Anecito Hibanada, former chairman of the Fleischer Estate Integrated Multi-purpose Cooperative (Feimco) said that although the previously issued CCLOA gave them rights to till their own lands, they experienced several contentions as there arose countless issues on management.
Hibanada said that it was in 1996 when Feiimco was awarded with 214 hectares.
“We encountered ups and downs as an ARB cooperative involving land ownership. But now differences and contentions will surely be avoided through the Split project and, with God’s grace, we proudly say that we have fully paid our amortization,” he added.
In a ceremonial distribution of e-titles, DAR-12 Assistant Regional Director H. Roldan A. Ali, Al-Hajj recognized how the ARBs benefited from tilling their lands, as he had seen them able to provide for the necessities of life, send their children to school, and able to improve their living conditions.
Ali, Al-Hajj said they expect the parcelization of land would improve the ARBs’ security of tenure.
“Strengthening their property ownership will eventually lead to more successful agricultural ventures,” he added.
Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Cenon S. Original said that, to date, the DAR provincial office of Sarangani has already distributed under the SPLIT Project about 807 e-titles to 555 ARBs, covering an area of 816.2879 hectares.