(Department of Agrarian Reform Logo)
MANILA (Mabuhay) — After years of struggling for land ownership, farmworker-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita will finally receive land titles for the farm lots allocated to them.
DAR Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Anthony Parungao announced that DAR will begin distributing the certified true copies of the Certificates of Land Ownership Award (or CLOAs of the land titles given to agrarian reform beneficiaries) to qualified farmworker-beneficiaries (FWBs) in the 10 barangays of Hacienda Luisita starting September 30 up to the middle of October.
Parungao said that as of September 25, 2013, the CLOAs of about 5,800 qualified FWBs who had signed and filed their Application to Purchase and Farmers Undertaking (APFU) were already generated by DAR and registered with the Register of Deeds.
He said only 296 FWBs have yet to claim their Lot Allocation Certificates (LAC), while only 377 FWBs have yet to sign and file their APFUs. He, however, clarified that the DAR continues to seek out the FWBs who have yet to claim their LACs or file their APFUs. He noted that a good number of FWBs are either working abroad or living outside of Tarlac, and were thus unable to claim their LACs or sign and file their APFUs.
“Their CLOAs will be generated and registered as soon as they have signed their APFUs”, Parungao said. “We have taken the initiative of searching for these beneficiaries to see how we can help them claim their lots. Our field facilitators are out there seeking them out so they can assist them.”
Parungao further explained that under the law, agrarian reform beneficiaries have to pay amortizations for their CARP-awarded land for a period of 30 years. In the meantime, the Owner’s Duplicate Copy of the CLOAs will be held by the Land Bank of the Philippines. He clarified that what will be distributed to the FWBs of Hacienda Luisita will be the certified true copies of their CLOAs, which, nevertheless, constitute proof of ownership of their CARP-awarded farm lands.
The distribution of CLOAs will begin in Barangay Pando on September 30, to be followed by Barangay Motrico on October 1, and Barangay Lourdes the following day. Distribution resumes on October 8 at Parang then Mabilog (October 9) and Bantog (October 10). The following week, DAR will distribute CLOAs in the four remaining barangays: Cutcut (October 15), Asturias (October 16), Balete (October 17), and Mapalacsiao (October 18).
“After the CLOA distribution, what remains to be done is the delineation of the boundaries of the farm lots on the ground by setting up monuments or boundary stones”, Parungao added.
Monumenting, Parungao explained, is the actual physical marking of lots with “muhons”. He explained that since most of the land is currently planted with mature sugar cane, it will be impossible to mark the lots on the ground before the harvest season sometime this November.
Monumenting will be undertaken as soon as an area is harvested. FWBs will be instantly installed (i.e., FWBs will take actual physical possession of his/her land) when the muhons or boundary stones in his/her land have been set. He was upbeat that they would finish the installation of all FWBs by early next year. (MNS)