THIRTY-TWO agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Bago City have received their certificates of land ownership awards (Cloas) from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Occidental-South.

Chief Agrarian Reform Program Officer for Land Tenure Security Program Marilou Tubesa, who led the distribution rites Thursday, November 26, 2020, said 60 land titles have been turned over to farmer-beneficiaries covered under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp).

Tubesa said the new landowners will share the 13.2817 hectares of the landholding formerly owned by Luisa Villanueva situated at Hacienda Nalupitan in Barangay Binubuhan.

She reminded farmers of their rights and obligations under the law, such as paying of taxes and land amortization.

"Please practice good stewardship over the land given to you," Tubesa told ARBs, reiterating that they must refrain from engaging in prohibited acts that may disqualify them as ARBs like selling and leasing of lands.

For her part, Officer-In-Charge Chief Agrarian Reform Program Officer Melma Hortelano encouraged farmer-beneficiaries to support the new project of the DAR -- the Support for Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (Split).

The project aims to improve the land tenure security and stabilize property rights of the ARBs.

"We are appealing for the cooperation of all farmer-beneficiaries in order to speed up the land subdivision or parcelization of collective Cloas," Hortelano said.

He added that in southern Negros Occidental alone, there are almost 21,000 hectares of properties that will be subdivided into individual titles by 2021.

Also present during the Cloa distribution held at the Barangay Ara-al Court in La Carlota City were Senior Agrarian Reform Program Technologist Mark Caraig, Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Ari Arceo and Agrarian Reform Program Technologist Almer Orocio.