DAR to distribute 40 hectares of land in Antique

By Liez’l Marie Lamasan

 

SAN JOSE, Antique – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)-Antique Provincial Office is eyeing to distribute 40 hectares of land to selected cluster towns this year.

DAR-6 Regional Director Sheila Enciso said in an interview that Antique is almost finished with its land distribution of less than 600 hectares.

“Sinusunod natin ang target ng President na as much as possible, by 2022 matatapos na yung mga distribution. For this year, ang target ng Antique ay mga nasa 40 hectares for land distribution,” Enciso said.

The 40 hectare-land will be distributed in the municipalities of Hamtic, Anini-y, Tobias Fornier, Sibalom, Patnongon, and Bugasong.

To recall, DAR Antique has covered a total of 51,000 hectares of land distribution under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) which benefitted some 16,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs).

Enciso also cited the various problems encountered during the land distribution.

“Hindi namin agad-agad ma-distribute (‘yung land) kasi mayroong nag re-resist na mga land owners. ‘Yun pong nagkakaroon ng mga kaso, nag-o-opposed sa Notice of Coverages (NOCs),” she explained.

Meanwhile, Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II Florentino Siladan added that DAR-Antique is prioritizing the implementation of Support for Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project in 2021.

Funded by the World Bank, the SPLIT project seeks to facilitate the splitting of collective certificates of landownership award (CCLOA) into individual land titles among ARBs to improve land productivity and security and income.

“For 2021, ang Antique ang may pinakataas nga target among the provinces region wide. Mga plus or menus 500 hectares ang target namon. Amo ra ang tutuk namon tulad (For 2021, Antique has the highest target among the provinces region wide. The target is around 500 hectares and that is our priority now),” Siladan said. (PIA)