Negros farmers get land, debt relief

A total of P1.834 billion worth of land amortization debt has been condoned for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) in Negros Island Region (NIR).

This relief covers 8,860.15 hectares of land and was formalized through the distribution of 19,244 Certificates of Condonation with Release of Mortgage (CoCrom) freeing 11,179 ARBs from decades of agrarian debts.

Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Conrado Estrella III personally led the distribution ceremony held at the Manuel Y. Torres Memorial Coliseum and Cultural Center in Bago City. The event included the turnover of land titles generated under the New Lands Program and the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (Project SPLIT).

Among the beneficiaries was 65-year-old sugarcane farmer Nelson Agotmo of Barangay San Miguel, La Carlota City, who received his CoCrom from Secretary Estrella in the presence of 4th District Congressman Jeffrey Ferrer, Governor Eugenio Jose V. Lacson, and Bago City Mayor Mayette Javellana.

“I am grateful to our beloved President. I don’t have to pay my debts anymore,” said Agotmo, whose P6.9-million land amortization for 11,467 square meters was fully condoned. Agotmo has been an ARB for 30 years.

Agotmo, who has a condoned amount of P6,934,376.15, with an area of 11,467 square meters has been an ARB for 30 years.

Also awarded during the event were 6,923 Certificates of Land Ownership Awards under the New Lands Program and Project SPLIT, covering a total of 4,683.84 hectares and benefiting 3,784 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Negros Occidental 1 and 2 and Negros Oriental.

Meanwhile, under Project SPLIT, 4,071 electronic titles (e-titles) covering 3,651.48 hectares were awarded to 2,039 ARBs.

Eighty-year-old Ernesto L. Natuel of Barangay Cabatangan, Talisay City, who had tilled land without a title for over 30 years, finally received ownership under Project SPLIT. A widower, Natuel shared that his only dream is to leave the land to his three children.

“Thank you, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., for giving us the land that we can call our own after having cultivated this for a very long time,” he said in Ilonggo.