By Brian Jules Campued
The government will distribute more than 100,000 Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) before the year ends, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Sec. Conrado Estrella III bared Thursday.
According to Estrella, the agency also aims to award the remaining more than 800,000 hectares of land to ARBs until President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. steps down at the end of his term in 2028.
“Gusto namin na pagbaba sa Malacañang ng ating mahal na Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ay iyong natitirang 800,000 hectares naipamahagi na natin,” he said in an interview on the Malacañang Insider program.
The DAR, under Estrella’s helm, distributed more than 26,000 land titles from July to December 2022, 69,000 in 2023, and 45,000 during the first six months of 2024.
This is higher than the previous administration’s estimated 17,000 land titles distributed in 15 months from 2021 to 2022—assuring accurate reporting of the distribution of CLOAs, contrary to the allegations of some.
“Kasama natin ang mahal na Pangulo; sa tingin mo eh mamadyikin namin iyong datos namin? That’s impossible especially with a very meticulous president like our President now,” he said, noting the importance of updating their records, which have been one of the agency’s problems before.
Meanwhile, Estrella reported a significant decrease in land dispute cases after implementing reforms to expedite their resolution, including hiring 63 additional lawyers who helped mediate and settle land disputes at the local level through DAR’s regional offices.
He noted that there was already a substantial caseload when Marcos assumed office in 2022—with some of the cases dragging on for up to two to three decades.
“Zero backlog daw. Noong kami ang nag-take over, zero backlog ba iyong mayroong mga sampung taon na nakabinbin iyong kaso? 20 years na nakabinbin? 30 years na nakabinbin iyong kaso? Hindi yata zero backlog iyon. Napakalaki ng caseload,” he said.
According to Estrella, the case resolution rate in the current administration is 46% higher than the previous administration. – iro