TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (PIA) -- Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) will now enjoy the benefits of Republic Act 11953 or the new Agrarian Emancipation Act condoning unpaid amortizations of principal debts of loans, including interests and surcharges from the land awarded to them.
Regional Director Primo Lara of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Region 2 said Agrarian Secretary Conrado Estrella III has already briefed all regional directors and provincial agrarian reform officers on the condonation process.
“At the regional level, we will be putting up Condonation Response Desks (CRDs) in every regional and provincial office to expedite the processing and verification of qualified ARBs,” he said.
Recently, Isabela DAR Provincial Office conducted its Farmers' Forum on RA 11953 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) wherein Atty. Vicky Runa A. Dulay-Marcos, a legal expert in the field of agrarian reform, equipped Municipal Agrarian Reform Officers (MAROs) and selected ARBOs from Isabela province on the condonation process.
The same forum will also be conducted in all provincial offices.
The new law, Lara said, is part of the government's poverty alleviation program to uplift the living conditions of the ARBs.
In the country, a total of P57.56 billion of unpaid principal debt will be condoned benefiting 610,054 ARBs tilling 1.173 million hectares of land.
In the Cagayan Valley region, about 1.718 billion of total unpaid balance covering 47,647 accounts of about 26,482 ARBs tilling an area of about 38,495 hectares as of June 30, 2023, will be condoned.
“Our ARBs will see how serious DAR is in uplifting their lives. Instead of paying their unpaid amortizations, they can use the resources to increase their income," he added. (GVB/PIA Region 2).