President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has awarded nearly 3,000 Certificates of Condonation with Release of Mortgage (COCROM) and 30 Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) to over 2,000 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) in the province of Pampanga.

According to Marcos, the awarding of COCROMs and CLOAs will alleviate the worries of the beneficiaries, particularly those affected by the recent storms that have battered the country.

With this initiative, a total of P206.38 million in farmers’ debts — including amortization, interest, and other surcharges — were condoned.

“Starting today, we are canceling your debt on the land granted to you under agrarian reform,” Marcos said. “This is a step to further strengthen the agricultural sector and help improve the quality of life for our farmers.”

As of 17 November, the Department of Agrarian Reform has distributed a total of 41,675 COCROMs and 160,516 CLOAs.

Marcos also highlighted a new initiative to boost local seedling production, which would enable farmers to plant a variety of seeds, increasing local agricultural production and reducing the country’s reliance on imported products.

“We still import seedlings. We should be able to produce them here in the Philippines. That’s our new program to increase seedling production locally, so we won’t need to import anymore,” he said.

The initiative aims to support key industries in Pampanga such as farming, specialty food and food processing.