DAR employees endure
heat, hike 5-km to validate ARBs
|
Municipal
Agrarian Reform Program Officer Ruben Rebato and his team
validates agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Hilongos,
Leyte’s farthest village. (DAR Hilongos) |
By
JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA
May 5, 2024
HILONGOS, Leyte –
While many people now just want to stay in a cool environment,
personnel from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) endured the
heat in reaching this town’s farthest village to validate agrarian
reform beneficiaries (ARBs) covered by the Support to Parcelization
of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project.
Heeding to the order of
Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III to complete the
validation of ARBs by the third quarter of this year, Municipal
Agrarian Reform Program Officer (MARPO) Ruben Rebato, together with
his field validation team (FVT), proceeded to Barangay San Antonio,
which is some 30 kilometers away from the town proper on Wednesday,
April 3.
Rebato reported that they
had validated more than 50 ARBs listed in three collective
Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) covering an aggregate
area of 132.6 hectares of farmlands located in the said village.
He shared that they had to
hike more than five kilometers uphill for about two hours to reach
this village situated on top of a mountain.
In the validation process,
ARBs are being checked whether they are still the ones in possession
of the lots awarded under the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program (CARP). If found out that the actual tiller is no
longer the registered ARB, an investigation report will be prepared
by the FVT and file a petition for the disqualification of the
registered ARB and reallocation for the actual tiller or qualified
ARB to receive the individual CLOA.
SPLIT project subdivides
lots covered by collective CLOAs and replaces with
electronically-generated individual land titles to improve land
tenure security and strengthen property rights of the ARBs.
Meanwhile, on the same
occasion, Rebato reactivated by reorganizing the Barangay Agrarian
Reform Council (BARC) of Barangay San Antonio considering the
important role the latter plays in the implementation of the World
Bank-funded SPLIT project.
