ILOILO CITY (PIA) - - A total of 2,358 land titles and over P114 million worth of farm machineries and equipment were turned over by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to agrarian farmer beneficiaries (ARBs) in five provinces of Western Visayas.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III awarded the land titles covering 1649.5760 hectares to 1,500 ARBs in a ceremony held Feb. 17 at the City of Passi Arena.

The province of Negros Occidental has the most number of beneficiaries with 742, followed by Capiz with 334, Iloilo with 320, Antique with 83 and Guimaras with 22.

Estrella, in his message, reminded the beneficiaries against selling their lots within 10 years starting from the time they received their titles. He warned them that it is prohibited and DAR will take back their property if they are going to sell this.

He has also assured the ARBs of the support of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., after the latter ordered them to provide for all the needs of the farmers to improve their lives.

The Secretary said DAR has already started providing these needs such as farm-to-market roads, equipment and a lot of support services.

Occidental who traveled to Passi City to get their certificates of land ownership awards. He was also thankful to receive the title of the land that he has been tilling for more than 10 years and a source of family income.

On the same day, through the agency’s Sustainable and Resilient Agrarian Reform Communities (SuReARC) project, Estrella led the breaking ground and distribution of P114,357,636.50 worth of farm-to-market roads, farm machineries and equipment, and support services benefiting 4,033 ARBs from 45 agrarian reform beneficiaries’ organizations. 

The farm machineries distributed include six units of shredder, four units of hand tractor with trailer, five units rice thresher, and two units of corn combine harvester.

The local government unit of Passi City was also a recipient of Tissue Culture Facility with Green House worth P7,000,000.00.

Further, some 774 bags of fertilizer worth P493,636.50 were also distributed to 25 ARBOs consisting of 814 ARBs.

The groundbreaking for FMR projects include the concreting of Mambiranan Grande to Cabunga FMR in Passi City, Cabiluan FMR in Barotac Nuevo town; and PD Monfort in Dumangas town, all in Iloilo Province.

Estrella was assisted by Undersecretary Jesry Palmares and local officials during the ceremonial groundbreaking and distribution. (JBG/laf/PIA6-Iloilo)