Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III on Thursday said the municipality of Lingayen in Pangasinan will witness a historic event as it becomes the first in the country to distribute Certificates of Condonation with Release of Mortgage (COCROM) today, 19 July. The landmark occasion marks the beginning of a significant transformation for agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) nationwide.

The distribution ceremony, to be held at the Pangasinan Capitol, Estrella said, will be a pivotal moment under the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on 7 July 2023. Republic Act (RA) No. 11953, also known as the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, is set to benefit over 600,000 Filipino farmers cultivating more than 1.7 million hectares of agrarian reform lands.

According to Estrella, the COCROM serves as proof that the government has condoned the debts of the ARBs related to their agricultural lands.

This initiative aims to provide farmers with ownership of the lands they till, paving the way for a prosperous future. Under RA 11953, P57.56 billion worth of debt owed by 610,054 ARBs, who are cultivating a total of 1.173 million hectares of land, will be condoned.

Under this law, the ARBs are exempted from estate tax and will be included in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) currently chaired by Marcos.

“The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) beneficiaries will greatly benefit from this initiative. With their debts written off, hundreds of thousands of farmers will have additional resources for food, education, shelter, wellness, and other family expenses that they would otherwise forego,” Estrella said.

In a fitting tribute to President Marcos Jr.'s roots and the birthplace of Estrella III, the Ilocos Region has been chosen as the inaugural site for the COCROM distribution. The government aims to distribute approximately 200,000 COCROMs to eligible ARBs before the year ends.

The DAR will issue the Certificates of Condonation, which will be annotated on the Emancipation Patent (EP) or Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA). Once the condonation takes effect, the appropriate Registry of Deeds will register the EP, CLOA, or any other title under the applicable agrarian reform law, along with the annotation of the Notice of Condonation.

This historic event not only underscores the government's commitment to agrarian reform but also heralds a new era of economic freedom and growth for Filipino farmers.