QUEZON CITY -- The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Eastern Visayas recently turned over to the provincial government of Samar a three-hectare lot intended for socialized housing exclusively for the former rebels.

DAR Eastern Visayas Regional Director Robert Anthony Yu said 144 housing units are to be constructed in the donated land in support to the government’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

“Today, we formally turn over these land intended for the housing lot for the Peace and Prosperity Village in the municipality of Pinabacdao, which is our commitment to Executive Order No. 70, series of 2018 or the Whole-of-Nation approach in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace and in ending the armed conflict,” Yu said. 

He added that the DAR’s effort in achieving social justice does not end in the provision of land for socialized housing, the department would continue to distribute farm lots to qualified agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), which will include rebel returnees.

Yu assisted Bureau of Land Tenure Improvement Director Romeo Reyes in handing over the Deed of Transfer and the land title to Governor Reynolds Michael Tan, which was witnessed by Pinabacdao Mayor Teodoro Mabag and the members of the Provincial Task Force-ELCAC. 

Tan said the provincial government will be working together for the realization of all the plans of the programs that have been laid out, especially those relevant to ELCAC.

On the other hand, Mabag expressed his thanks to the DAR as well as to the governor and Samar’s 2nd District Representative, Sharee Ann Tan, for the realization of the Peace and Prosperity Village in his municipality.

The said lot is located in Barangay Catigawan, an upland village in the said municipality, which is about three kilometers from the national highway. (DAR)