PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte distributed land titles to farmers of Bondoc Peninsula covering 639 hectares of land under the government’s agrarian reform program, the Palace said.
At least 387 farmers received the certificate of land ownership awards (CLOAs) from the President in a simple awarding ceremony in Mulanay, Quezon province.
In a related development, Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones on Thursday said a continuation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program was likely.
At a news conference, Castriciones said President Duterte wanted to resume land reform.
“He wants a second phase of land reform. We need Congress, according to the President,” he said.
About 500,000 hectares of land across the country could still be placed under the agrarian reform program, he said.
“I was instructed by the President to cover all available lands under the program. He sees land in Mindanao which are productive. Even the mountainous areas are planted with coconut and rubber,” the agrarian reform chief said.
After 26 years, CARP expired on June 30, 2014.
Despite the program’s expiration, the Department of Agrarian Reform continued to distribute over six million hectares of land to farmers with notices of coverage.
He said the government idle lands did not do any good for the government and it was better given to the farmers so they could develop them into farm.
“They can plant coconut or rubber since these lands are mostly hills and mountains,” Duterte said in Filipino.
However, the President said he needed the cooperation of Congress for it to materialize.
Duterte said the government would be able to earn money as the economy grows, adding that with less corruption, government programs would succeed.
The President noted that agriculture had always been the missing link in the country’s economy, as he proposed that other areas must look at Mindanao as the model for agriculture development.
He noted that the region had succeeded in cultivating rubber, coconut and upland palay.
The program aims to empower agrarian reform beneficiaries through equitable distribution of agricultural lands and support services to local farmers.
The CLOAs covered areas in Hacienda Matias in San Francisco, Quezon, which has been one of the disputed areas in the Bondoc Peninsula.
The Matias properties have been among the largest land acquisition and distribution targets in Quezon province along with the Reyes and Tan families, covering thousands of hectares under each family name.
Since President Duterte assumed office in 2016, DAR made two CLOA distributions: one in October 2017 in San Narciso covering 1,270 hectares and another one in April 2018 in the same municipality covering 780 hectares.