THE Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Occidental-North has distributed certificates of land ownership award (Cloas) to 25 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) of Barangay Quezon in San Carlos City recently.

Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer Merlyn Sumayo, who led the activity, told farmer beneficiaries that the DAR continues to work on having more qualified ARBs receiving their individual land titles.

Sumayo reminded ARBs to be more responsible with the lands they now own, urging them to pay their taxes regularly.

The distributed landholdings were formerly owned by the Philippine Investment Two Inc. and Salvador Rigor, totaling 19.7536 hectares both located in Barangay Quezon.

The DAR said public and private agricultural landholdings are acquired by the government to be distributed to tenants, farmers, farmworkers and other tillers who are qualified to become ARBs.

This is in the form of Cloas covering one contiguous tract or several parcels of land cumulated up to a maximum of three hectares per ARB, the agency said.

“This is anchored to the agency’s aim to provide lands to landless farmers and farmworkers, guarantee the farmers' land security, deliver social equity, and provide them with the necessary productive resources needed to ensure their economic viability and productivity,” it added. (With PR)