DAR
to Door. Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary
Brother John Castriciones delivers Certificates of Land
Ownership Award (CLOAs) to agrarian reform
beneficiaries’ (ARBs’) homes in Barangays Lourdes and
Bobonon in Alangalang, Leyte. |
Castriciones
delivers CLOAs in remote Leyte villages despite heavy rains
By
JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA
December 5, 2020
ALANGALANG, Leyte –
Despite the sudden heavy downpour, Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR) Secretary Brother John Castriciones did not back out from his
original plan of delivering the Certificates of Land Ownership Award
(CLOAs) to six agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in a remote
village here under the “DAR to Door” program.
Upon his arrival on
Wednesday (November 25) in Tacloban City, Castriciones went directly
to this town, which is some 30 kilometers away.
Accompanied by his
deputies, Undersecretary David Erro of the Field Operations Office
and Undersecretary Carim Panumpang of the Special Concerns Office,
Castriciones proceeded to Barangay Lourdes, which is still about
five kilometers away from the town proper.
While in the middle of his
talk with ARB Francisco Catindoy in the land the latter is tilling,
heavy rain suddenly poured. But Castriciones patiently waited in a
nearby house of Bernardo Lagaday, another ARB, for the rain to
subside to continue with his purpose of delivering the CLOAs to the
homes of the four other recipient farmers in the area.
From Barangay Lourdes,
Castriciones went also to Barangay Bobonon to deliver the CLOA of
Alicia Tabernero, who became emotional when she received the land
title.
Tabernero, as she thanked
Secretary Castriciones, shared that she had been wishing for a long
time that the land she was tilling would be hers someday, and that
her wish is now being realized. She added that she valued much that
land especially the time that she was sending her children to
school.
On the following day,
Castriciones went back to this town and distributed in a formal rite
at the municipal covered court 1,280 more CLOAs covering an
aggregate area of over a thousand hectares to 1,042 ARBs from other
farming villages in this municipality as well as from the towns of
Barugo, Burauen, Capoocan, Carigara, Dagami, Jaro, Kananga, and
Pastrana.
According to Castriciones,
“kaya ako ay lumilibot sa buong Pilipinas upang palakasin ang
pag-asa ng ating mga magsasaka sapagkat alam ko na sa panahong ito
ay dapat silang bigyan ng pag-asa, bigyan sila ng motibasyon para
magpatuloy sa paghahanapbuhay bilang mga magsasaka.
Castriciones described the
farmers as true heroes of our nation.
He emphasized “malaki po
ang utang na loob ng ating bansa sa ating mga magsasaka lalo na
ngayong may pandemya. Dahil sa kanila may pagkain ang ating mga
mesa.”
Meanwhile, MAALSADA-Farmer
Irrigators Service Cooperative (FISCO) was honored on the same
occasion as outstanding agrarian reform beneficiaries organization (ARBO)
in the region for garnering the highest product sales encompassing
both the traditional and institutional markets, at P13.3-million
from March to October this year.
However, Reynaldo Peja,
chairman of the MAALSADA-FISCO, begged to increase the buying price
of rice. At present, a kilo of rice is sold at P12 only.