NEW LANDOWNERS. Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer Drexel Glen Pajarilla leads the installation of 21 farmer-beneficiaries on 12.78 hectares of property formerly owned by Juan Yulo in Barangay Candumarao, Hinigaran, Negros Occidental on Tuesday (May 11, 2021). The installation was facilitated by the Department of Agrarian Reform-Negros Occidental II, which covers areas in the southern part of the province. (Photo courtesy of DAR Negros Occidental II-South)
BACOLOD CITY – A total of 33 farmer-beneficiaries have been installed in two separate landholdings in Hinigaran, Negros Occidental on May 5 and 11, reports from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said on Wednesday.
The installation rites were facilitated by the DAR Negros Occidental II, which covers areas in the southern part of the province.
On Tuesday, some 21 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) became landowners of the 12.78 hectares of property formerly owned by Juan Yulo in Barangay Candumarao.
A week earlier, 12 farmers occupied the 17-hectare agricultural land in neighboring Barangay Camalobalo, previously owned by spouses Rafael and Lourdes Guanzon.
In a statement, Drexel Glen Pajarilla, municipal agrarian reform program officer of Hinigaran, said through the installation process, the DAR ensures that the farmers will own, possess, and actually till the land awarded to them.
“It is also our task to ensure that installed ARBs shall continue to peacefully enjoy their right of ownership and possession over the lands awarded to them,” he added.
Pajarilla reminded the ARBs to exercise diligence in the use, cultivation, and maintenance of their land as he urged them to help the DAR fight the “ariendo” system, which refers to the leasing out of the awarded farmlands.
In a previous report, it was said that thousands of agricultural lands awarded to ARBs in southern Negros are believed to be subject to “verbal” lease transactions because of the farmer-beneficiaries overdependence on former landowners and lack of knowledge on how to manage the land.
“Please make your land productive. For sure, many of you will be enticed by some individuals to sell or lease your awarded land, however, you must always put in your mind the future of your children,” Pajarilla said.
Leasing, selling, and illegal transfer of land are tantamount to perpetual disqualification from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
“You must also religiously pay the land taxes and amortizations,” Pajarilla told the farmer-beneficiaries as he encouraged them to organize themselves into a cooperative to avail support services from the DAR, particularly the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development and Sustainability Program. (PNA)
