FIFTY-FIVE agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in two barangays of Victorias City are now landowners.
This, after the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Occidental-North has distributed certificates of land ownership award (Cloas) covering at least 16 hectares recently.
The involved landholdings are formerly owned by the Greenworld Agricultural Development Corp. with a designated area of 5.8573 hectares, and the property previously managed by Lourdes Gaston with an area of about 11 hectares located in Barangays XIV and VIII, respectively.
The land was distributed through the process of the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (Carper).
Under which, 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.
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.
Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer Jade Sollesta, who led the activity, urged farmers to cultivate the land awarded to them and make it an instrument to improve their lives.
She also reminded ARBs of their responsibilities to pay their taxes and amortizations on time.
DAR-Negros Occidental I said with the province still under the modified general community quarantine, the activities complied with minimum health protocols set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Department of Health.
"Such continuous field activities conducted by the DAR show that despite the inconveniences brought by the pandemic, the service for the Filipino people lives on," it added.