DAVAO CITY - Top government officials led by Vice-President Sara Z. Duterte, Senator Imee R. Marcos, Senator Christopher Lawrence T. Go, and Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado M. Estrella III graced the regionwide distribution of Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) to 2,773 agrarian beneficiaries held on November 12 at the SMX Convention Center Davao.
The distribution of government-owned lands is a program under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT), a system that facilitates the subdivision of collectively-owned land titles issued under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) into individual land titles to small scale farmers.
Senator Imee Marcos in her speech said the event is timely as they had just celebrated the 50th year anniversary of Presidential Decree 27 signed by former President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972, which calls for the emancipation of tenants from the bondage of the soil transferring to them the ownership of the land they till and providing its instruments and mechanism.
“Yang mahiwagang presidential decree 27 ay yong kaisa-isang batas na sinulat ng tatay ko sa kanyang kamay. It is all hand-written, it came from the heart, from his soul of pursuing a dream of the final emancipation of farmers from the bondage of the soil. And he as a result, he felt he had to write in his own hands to show the importance and the centrality of the ownership and title of those who actually till the land,” Senator Marcos said in her speech.
The Senator who was celebrating her birthday on that day said she wanted to spend her special day with the people. She emphasized her commitment to continue the legacy of her father by supporting the goal of PD 27 and distributing the remaining 173,339 hectares which are considered as backlog for distribution.
“What only remains 173,339 hectares considered as backlog. Yan ang pwede nating umpisahan ka agad agad.. Kung tutuusin ito ay tinira na lamang ni Presidente Duterte na siyang nagpatuloy ng programa ng ama ko, nang buong puso at nang buong paninindigan. Yon nga lang parati nyang sinasabi, ihuli muna natin ang davao. Kaya’t nabigyan ang buong sulok ng Mindanao: Cotabato, North Cot, Maguindanao, Zamboanga nagbigay na ng titulo, sabi niya ihuli ang Davao. Nahuli na umabot na ngayon sa atin,” Senator Marcos said. (PIA/RG Alama)
