The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is set to distribute on Monday, 8 April 2024, a total of 4,724 Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) comprising 2,550 hectares of land to 2,797 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) of Negros Occidental.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III is expected to distribute the land titles which are generated under the new lands and the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling or Project SPLIT to be held at the Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Coliseum and Cultural Center in Bago City, Negros Occidental.

Estrella III vowed to support President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s call to expedite the distribution of land ownership titles to farmer-beneficiaries of agrarian reform and provide support to help the ARBs improve their living conditions.

“To ensure the ARBs’ success, over 59-million worth of support services will be distributed to 19 ARB organizations (ARBOs) in Negros Occidental which include farm-to-market road (FMR) projects, Tulay ng Pangulo Para sa Kaunlarang Pang-Agraryo (TPKP project), and farm machineries and equipment (FME),” Estrella said.

Atty. Sheila B. Enciso, DAR Western Visayas Regional Director, said the landholding includes 2,686 titles covering 1,181.88 hectares, allocated to 1,562 ARBs for new lands. On the other hand, 2,038 titles for the Project SPLIT covering 1,368.76 hectares will be distributed to 1,235 ARBs.

“The total landholding under the new lands comprises a total of 1,744 CLOAs covering 725.7328 hectares, to be distributed to 951 ARBs in Negros Occidental 1, and in Negros Occidental 2, a total of 942 CLOAs covering 455.8997 hectares, will be distributed to 611 ARBs. Under the Project SPLIT, a total of 1,084 CLOAs covering 700.6009 hectares, will be distributed to 600 ARBs in Negros Occidental 1. In comparison, a total of 954 CLOAs covering 668.1618 hectares, will be distributed to 635 ARBs in Negros Occidental 2,” Enciso said.

New lands are the regular targets of the DAR under the Land Tenure Improvement (LTI) covering private agricultural lands, while the landholdings under the Project SPLIT are those covered and previously issued by the DAR with collective Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CCLOAs) and are now being subdivided and replaced with individual CLOAs or land titles to improve land tenure security and strengthen property rights of the ARBs.