DAR awards 504 hectares to agrarian reform beneficiaries in Kalinga

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — At least 745 farmers in the towns of Balbalan, Lubuagan, Pasil, Pinukpuk, Rizal, Tinglayan, and in Tabuk City in Kalinga province now own the land that they have been tilling for decades.

Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones led the distribution of 965 Certificates of Land Ownership Award covering 504 hectares of the former Briones estate to agrarian reform beneficiaries this week. 

Castriciones urged the farmers not to sell their CLOAs, which he said represents their “freedom from the bondage of poverty and social injustices”. ARBs are forbidden from selling awarded land within ten years of the award and doing so leads to the cancellation of their CLOAs.

The secretary also promised farmers support from the Department of Agrarian Reform in developing their land through farm-to-market road projects, Land Bank credit assistance, and programs for farming implements and facilities.
 
Castriciones stressed the importance of creating Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Organizations for development strategies. ARBOs in Leyte, for example, engage in block famring of sugarcane to consolidate their land holdings for better management and productivity while maintaining individual ownership.
 
He also stressed that innovations in technology can help farmers grow and earn more.

"And that is the thrust that we are going forward to because we know that by improving the technology of farming through the support being extended by the different departments, we would be able to achieve that goal and we will be able to improve the economic lives of our farmers," Castriciones said.

He added the department is teaming up with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for scholarships in new crop technologies for farmers' relatives so they can help revitalize the agricultural sector, which he described as aging.

He said that the average age of the Filipino farmer is 57. "That is worrying because the day will come when the average of a farmer is even older and we might no longer have any farmers," Castriciones said in Filipino.

ARBs cannot sell awarded land

The Agrarian Reform secretary stressed that it has encountered problems with ARBs selling their CLOAs despite the prohibition.

"I think the best way to do it is to make them love their lands through having a house in the land where they till," said, adding the government is looking into an affordable housing program for farming families. 

"What we want to happen is the whole family works together so they will really love the land and not dispose of it," he said.

Castriciones' predecessor, Rafael Mariano, in April 2017, cancelled the sale and leasing out of Hacienda Luisita farm lots awarded to agrarian reform beneficiaries.

A fact-finding inquiry earlier that year found that 2,841 ARBs had leased, mortgaged or rented out their lands, while more than 600 ARBs had sold their lots to third-party buyers.

DAR noted then, however, that the ARBs did not do that because of lack of love for the land. It said that "local politicians, utilizing an illicit leaseback system known as 'aryendo', have duped thousands of cash-strapped agrarian reform beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita into letting go of farm lots already awarded to them."

It said that farmer-beneficiaries were forced to sell or lease their land due to financial difficulties owing to lack of funds for producing crops or when there was an illness in the family.