Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said the landowners of these agricultural lands will soon be issued notices of CARP (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) coverage so the government could eventually acquire the properties.
"This was the result of the recently concluded inventory of the scope of CARP in Samar," he said.
Provincial agrarian reform officer Ma. Fe Malinao said the 46,000 hectares of agricultural lands are on top of the 1,400 hectares which her office has committed to distribute to qualified farmer-beneficiaries until 2008.
She said 74 percent of the newly identified "CARP-able" lands are private agricultural lands in excess of the five-hectare landowner’s retention under CARP.
According to Malinao, the DAR will subsequently screen and validate the farmers who would qualify as beneficiaries of the 46,000 hectares.
"The data were culled from the certificates of title from the register of deeds as well as from the approved survey plans and tax declarations from the assessor’s office," she said.
The DAR has been validating the extent of CARP and determining the status of CARP-covered areas nationwide, and in the process, has identified new "CARP-able" lands in Samar, Negros Occidental, Oriental Negros, Camarines Sur and Quezon, in addition to the remaining 600,000 hectares of lands still up for distribution to qualified farmer-beneficiaries.