Pangasinan farmers receive P1.3 million aid, land titles

MANILA, Philippines — Almost a hundred agrarian reform beneficiaries in Pangasinan have been awarded titles to the lands they have been tilling for decades.

In a press statement issued over the weekend, the Department of Agrarian Reform said certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) covering 63 hectares of agricultural lands were distributed to 94 beneficiaries in Asingan and San Quentin towns.

The awarding of the land titles coincided with the commemoration of the signing of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) on June 10, 1988.

The CARL serves as the basis for DAR’s implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

“Instead of celebrating CARL’s 32nd year, we chose to help farmers survive the ill effects of the pandemic by providing them with the much-needed assistance in crop production,” Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones said.

He said the CLOAs signified the farmers’ “freedom from the bondage of tenancy.”

Aside from awarding land titles, the DAR also distributed P1.3 million worth of productivity assistance, which included seeds and fertilizers, water pumps for irrigation and livelihood packages.

The assistance, expected to benefit more than 3,000 farmers and residents, was coursed through agrarian cooperatives and farmers’ associations.

Fertilizer and vegetable seedlings were distributed to 60 and 16 beneficiaries from Umingan and Asingan, respectively.