DAR-11 enlists 31 farmers as agrarian reform beneficiaries in DavSur town

MALALAG, Davao del Sur, Nov. 25 (PIA) – The municipal office of the Department of Agrarian Reform in Malalag, Davao del Sur recently enlisted some 31 landless farmers in a barangay here as beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER).

Esther Geyrozaga, OIC-municipal agrarian reform officer of Malalag, said the farmers who are mostly into vegetable production are from Barangay Pitu of said municipality.

George Melga, one of the 31 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), expressed his gratitude to the Almighty and to DAR for giving them the opportunity to own a land which they would nurture to make their life better.

Geyrozaga said Melga now owns a half-hectare farm lot which was formerly part of the 20-hectare Marcial Estate which was subjected to Mandatory Land Acquisition in early 2009.

She said the ARBs received photocopies of their Certificates of Landownership Award (CLOAs) in a simple distribution ceremony, adding that original copies of the titles were deposited at the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) being the paying arm of all compensable CARP-covered areas.

She explained that the original copies of CLOAs will be handed over to the ARBs as soon as full-payment of the land value is already secured which is pursuant to DAR Administrative Order No. 5 series of 2005.

Prior to the distribution, Geyrozaga said she comprehensively explained the duties and obligations of the ARBs as the new small land holders, the obligation to pay annual amortization to the LBP and the transfer of tax declaration and payment of annual real estate taxes.

She also urged the recipients to take good care and make the land productive because “however small the parcel is, if properly cultivated, it can sustain generations.”

She emphasized that acquiring the land from its former owners was never easy.

After assessing the needed support services for agri-production, a non-traditional type of irrigation system was identified as priority need and a crop house (an indigenous green house) model was also recommended to be put up in the area, Geyrozaga stated. (PIA-11/Carina L. Cayon)