DAR distributes over 1K hectares of agri land in Bondoc Peninsula
ATOTAL of 1,057 hectares of land was recently distributed to 352 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) in San Andres, Quezon province by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
The lands distributed under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) are part of the last remaining “haciendas” in the entire Bondoc Peninsula, an area said to be infested with New People’s Army rebels.
DAR Secretary John R. Castriciones led the distribution of the Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAS) for the landholdings located in Barangays Tala and Camflora in San Andres owned by Sto. Domingo Shipping Lines, Spouses Domingo Reyes and Lourdes Abustan, and Viva Shipping Lines Inc.
The vast landholdings have been the subject of intense land disputes during the first decades of the CARP implementation.
“The areas for distribution today are part of the last remaining haciendas not only in San Andres, Quezon but in the entire Bondoc Peninsula area,” Castriciones said.
Sixty-year-old Haydee Esquelona, one of the beneficiaries of the land-transfer program personally received her land title in front of her house from Castriciones.
Castriciones has been making a “house-to-house” distribution of CLOAS to demonstrate the DAR’S resolve to distribute lands and meet its target despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are personally delivering these land titles to ARBS to give them hope that despite these hard times, we are here for them,” Castriciones said.
During the CLOA distribution, Castriciones also led the distribution of productivity assistance with Undersecretary for Support Services Emily O. Padilla. The package of assistance includes planting materials, vegetable seeds, and fertilizers to 60 ARB organizations, or ARBOS.
“These provisions are highly significant in achieving food security in the country. These [productivity assistance] would greatly help the farmers in fulfilling their role as frontliners by continually producing and delivering food crops in critical areas affected by the pandemic,” Castriciones said.
The activity is being implemented under the project called “The Passover: ARBOLD Move to Heal as One Deliverance of our ARBS from the Covid-19 Pandemic,” or ARBOLD Move project for short.
According to Padilla, the seeds and fertilizers will be planted on a 500-squaremeter lot per ARB.
“The productivity assistance would greatly help the coconut farmers here. We provided these vegetable seeds to intercrop with coconut so they could earn income from it,” she said.
The productivity assistance was coursed through agrarian cooperatives and farmers’ associations. Padilla said more than 3,000 farmers in Quezon will benefit from the assistance, of which 2,482 are ARBS.