The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) distributed a total of 1,073 land titles in Central Luzon. In the program conducted by DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III, Senator Imee Marcos, and Senator Francis Tolentino, 1,053 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) have been granted the title of the land they farm, covering a total of 1,170 hectares of farmland.

According to the secretary, this program is in accordance with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to intensify the distribution of land titles to free farmers from slavery in the land they farm.

Estrella said the land titles are personally handed over to the farmers with the aim of bringing the government closer and listening carefully to their current needs so that the government can help raise their standard of living.

Approximately 636 titles were distributed to 585 ARBs under the agency’s regular Land Acquisition and Distribution program covering 393 hectares. About 437 electronic land titles with a size of 709.04 hectares were distributed to 438 ARBs under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project.

Through the DAR’s SPLIT program, individual land titles are awarded to ARBs who previously received land under the Collective Certificates of Land Ownership Award. In Nueva Ecija, 68.02 hectares of land owned by the city government of Palayan was also distributed to 30 ARBs.

Aside from Nueva Ecija, ARBs from the provinces of Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales also received land titles.

In such a program, Senator Marcos declared that his father’s dream was to strengthen the farmers by freeing them from slavery in the land.

Senator Tolentino, on the other hand, praised the DAR program for the farmers.

Aside from land titles, DAR also distributed farm machinery and loan packages to groups of farmers or ARB organizations. (PIA 3)