The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Registry of Deeds (ROD) distributed recently land titles to more than 1,000 claimants from seven municipalities in Cotabato. The titles covered 2,814.27 hectares of alienable and disposable lands.
The awarding ceremony, led by DENR assistant secretary Leonilo B. Lariosa and ROD North Cotabato head Ma. Theresa Biongan-Pescadera, was held at the Provincial Capitol in Kidapawan City.
Lariosa said and additiional 4,000 land titles are due for distribution over the next two months.
Addressing the beneficiaries, Lariosa said: “Let us treasure our titles and cultivate our lands so that we have something to pass on to our children someday. Let us all pray that God will not get back our lands like what happened in Leyte.”
Amando Kanapia, 56 years old and a resident of Dugong, M’lang, Cotabato, said in an interview: “This is the best program of the government which fulfilled our dream of having a title over our lands. Most of us farmers are short of money that’s why we are thankful to the government for shouldering the costs.”
“Handog Titulo” is a continuing program of the government primarily to promote social justice and help poor landowners uplift their living conditions. The DENR surveyed the lands for free on behalf of the claimants. and waived the registration fee of P5,000 per hectare while the provincial government of Cotabato deferred the payment of 10-year real estate back tax to help the beneficiaries.
The project is a brain child of Governor Emmanuel F. Piñol who believes that once their lands are already productive it would be easier for the farmers to pay the taxes.