CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Over 400 farmers in Tarlac province were awarded ownership over the land they tilled and occupied for many years.
The beneficiaries received their land titles on Thursday from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here, as part of President Benigno Aquino III's “Handog Titulo” program.
Assistant Regional Director for Management Services of DENR Regional Office 3 Tirso Parian Jr. said that a total of 82 land titles consisting of residential and agricultural free patents as well as miscellaneous sales patents covering more than 11 hectares of public lands were distributed.
The Handog Titulo Program is one of the government's contributions in promoting social justice and alleviating poverty in the rural areas.
"We aim to uplift the lives of the Filipino people, especially those working in the agriculture sector, by giving them access to free land titling and empowering them with legal ownership over land which some of them have been living on and toiling on for more than a decade," Parian said during a program at Diwa ng Tarlak in Tarlac City.
A Filipino citizen, who is an actual occupant of a residential land for at least ten years, is eligible to apply for free patent under Republic Act (RA) 10023 of 2010, or An Act Authorizing the Issuance of Free Patents to Residential Lands.
Qualified applicants are also eligible to apply for free patents over public agricultural lands through open and continuous possession for at least 30 years as provided under Chapter Seven of the Public Land Act (Commonwealth Act 141).