575 Isabela farmers receive land titles

MANILA, Philippines — Land titles have been distributed to 575 agrarian reform beneficiaries in three municipalities in Isabela, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said over the weekend.

The farmer-beneficiaries received their certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) from DAR Secretary John Castriciones in ceremonies held recently in the towns of Delfin Albano, Jones and Naguilian.

The distributed property consisted of 840.69 hectares located in the province’s 19 municipalities.

“With these land titles, all of you are now free from the burden of paying rent for the use of the land you are tilling as well as from the fear of getting ejected,” Castriciones said.

The DAR also distributed CLOAs to seven rebel-returnees in Echague.

“The reason why many of our countrymen are being lured to support the ideologies that are contrary to the belief of our government is because they have suffered some sort of difficulties and problems regarding their economic status,” Castriciones said.

He said the land distribution could help convince more rebels to return to the fold of the law.

“If we are going to help them, we will all recover from this plight. It will solve the country’s insurgency problem,” Castriciones said.