BACOLOD CITY — Agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Negros Occidental will receive about 1,490 hectares of land during the visit of President Rodrigo Duterte in Iloilo City on June 20.
More or less 900 ARBs from northern Negros will be given certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) for 1,066.74 hectares while 556 from the south will get CLOAs for 483.16 hectares.
These farmlands will be part of the 2,697.87 hectares to be distributed by the Department of Agrarian Reform in Western Visayas this week in line with the 30th anniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Lucrecia Taberna, head of DAR Negros Occidental-South, said the 483.16 hectares that will be distributed on Wednesday will be added to the 1,000 hectares already distributed in the south as of June this year.
For 2018, the DAR Negros Occidental-South has identified about 4,000 hectares for potential distribution.
Taberna said these landholdings were already surveyed and underwent field investigation conducted by the DAR and Land Bank of the Philippines.
“We are optimistic to reach the 5,000-hectare distribution target this year,” she added.
Meanwhile, the DAR Negros Occidental-North targets to distribute 6,000 hectares of farmland for beneficiaries this year.
As of last week, about 15 percent or 895 hectares of the 6,000 hectares have already been distributed.
The remaining areas up for distribution this year have been issued notices of coverage.
The 6,000 hectares form part of the 54,000 hectares in balance landholdings for coverage in northern Negros.
A total of 187,677 hectares of land have been distributed in Negros Occidental, which has the biggest land reform area in the country, since the CARP started in 1988.
As of May 31 this year, the DAR Negros Occidental-North has distributed 72,000 hectares to 52,000 beneficiaries while DAR Negros Occidental-South has released CLOAs for a total of 115,677 hectares to 73,635 beneficiaries. (Erwin Nicavera/PNA)
