MANILA – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has begun the distribution of electronic titles (e-titles) to 2,500 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) in the Davao Region.
In a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon interview Thursday, DAR Undersecretary Kazel Celeste said region-wide mass distribution of the e-titles covered an aggregate of 3,000 hectares, providing each farmer at least 1 hectare of land.
“Electronic titles na po ang aming ibibigay para sa mga ARBs na makikinabang sa Project SPLIT (We are giving electronic titles to ARBs benefiting from Project Support to Parcelization of Land and Individual Titling [SPLIT]) although we do provide them with the actual and physical title,” she said.
Project SPLIT is a project of the DAR and the World Bank wherein collective Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) are parcelized.
The project is partially funded by the World Bank and the Philippine government.
The CLOA is a document showing ownership of the land granted or awarded to the beneficiary by the DAR. It also contains the restrictions and conditions provided for in Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and other applicable laws.
“Before, nagkakaroon ng isang titulo tayo, pero maraming agrarian reform beneficiaries ang nag-mamay-ari (there was one title but many agrarian reform beneficiaries owned the land), then this project, so that our ARBs will have their own individualized titles with their names,” Celeste said.
“Initiallly, we started with a balance of 1.3 million hectares and nasa 1,100,000 po ang mga ARBs na makikinabang dito sa (1.1 million ARBs would benefit from) Project SPLIT,” she added.
The DAR is set to distribute e-titles and regular titles under CARP to ARBs in the Caraga region next week.
These ARBs were the ones given notice of coverage before the expiration of CARP.
Celeste noted that Project SPLIT expires in 2024.
“But we’re working it out to have it extended for another two years, because of the pandemic, many of our operations were halted,” she said.
“In so far, of lands that already have notice of coverages, meron pa po tayong balanse na (we still have a balance of) more or less 160,000 hectares.”
She added that the DAR is working on problematic land holdings to finish or cover all the CARP balance. (PNA)
