PBBM PLEDGES ‘AUTHENTIC’ AGRARIAN REFORM, SUSTAINED ASSISTANCE TO FARMERS

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday (07 Feb 2024) assured farmers of his administration’s commitment to an “authentic” agrarian reform aimed at providing them with a better quality of life.

Marcos made this pledge during the distribution of approximately 2,529 electronic land titles (e-titles), benefiting 2,672 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the Davao Region, at a ceremony held at the Rizal Memorial College Gym in Davao City.

Expressing concern over the plight of Filipino farmers, who are essential to the nation yet often the poorest, Marcos stated that his administration would adopt a “whole-of-government” approach to meet their needs.

“It is disheartening to see that the poorest in our country are our farmers. You feed us, but you struggle to feed your own families,” he said.

Marcos emphasized that providing land titles to ARBs is just the initial step towards alleviating poverty among them, and the government will exert all possible efforts to ease their burden. He also called upon the private sector to collaborate with the government in offering better incentives to farmers.

“I will continue to enhance and refine genuine agrarian reform,” Marcos asserted. “We will not accept that farming remains the most challenging livelihood. It truly is difficult. Regardless of our efforts, farming remains tough. Our farmers need assistance, all the support that the government can provide.”

The event took place amid the implementation of the Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR) Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project, which aims to enhance land tenure security and reinforce property rights for ARBs.

Launched as a foreign-assisted initiative in 2020, the SPLIT Project encompasses approximately 1.6 million hectares of land, benefiting around 1.5 million ARBs nationwide, according to a statement posted on the DAR’s official website.

To date, the DAR has issued and distributed approximately 91,775 e-titles covering 109,199 hectares of land, benefiting 98,203 ARBs.

(By el Amigo/MNM)