FIFTEEN agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Negros Occidental took their oath and signed the Application to Purchase and Farmer's Undertaking as they qualified for the screening process to become recipients of land covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp).
Farmers of the 11.2061-hectare landholdings formerly owned by Benjie Siana located in Barangay Dian-ay in Escalante City virtually swore before Judge Jose Meno Ruiz recently.
The activity aims to affirm the application of the ARBs and to ensure their compliance with all agrarian laws, rules and regulations pertaining to the productivity of the land and their obligation on the payment of the amortization and the real property tax.
It is one of the preliminary activities of the DAR to acquire land under Carp, which mandates the redistribution of government and private agricultural lands to landless farmers and farm workers to secure the farmers' land security and social equity.
This also provides them with the necessary productive resources needed to ensure their economic viability and productivity.
The program covers all tenanted agricultural lands such as those in the retained areas, not yet acquired for distribution under Carp, and those which may be validly covered under existing laws.
DAR-Negros Occidental I, in a statement, said the activity proves that the agency continues to fulfill its duties of serving the Filipino people amid the global pandemic.
With Negros Occidental still under the modified general community quarantine, the community has complied with minimum health protocols set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Department of Health, it added.