Around 232,000 hectares of arable, state-owned lands will be distributed to farmer-beneficiaries around the country after the issuance of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Executive Order 75 aimed at giving the landless lands to till, the country’s Agrarian Reform Secretary has said.
In his report to President Duterte on Monday, Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones said among the lands intended for distribution are located in Boracay, Davao National Agricultural School, Cagayan State University, Pampanga State Agricultural University, and Yulo King Ranch in Busuanga, Palawan
Through the assistance of the Department of National Defense, DAR has reached an agreement with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) this year for land distribution in Marawi City and Lanao del Sur.
In Marawi City, 1,300 hectares of land will be distributed while 780 hectares will be awarded to beneficiaries in Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur, 1,324 hectares in Piagapo, and 1,396 hectares in Marantao.
The DAR chief said land survey is ongoing and the government-owned lands could be handed over to the farmers by October.
To widen the government program, the President issued Administrative Order No. 3, Series of 2020, aimed at enticing young people to venture in agriculture.
Under the President’s administrative order, not only agriculture graduates can get lands but also former rebels returning to the fold of the law.
As a result, Castriciones reported that more than 2,000 former rebels and their sympathizers received lands in Nueva Vizcaya, Leyte, Bohol, Masbate, Arakan Valley, Negros, and other areas.
In Mindanao, 146 decommissioned combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were given lands in the Bangsamoro Region after DAR worked with BARMM’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform.
There are 2.486 million agrarian reform beneficiaries from 1972 to 2020. Castriciones said 1.3 million or 53 percent of the ARBs are in 2,234 agrarian reform communities.
In strengthening these communities, the government has extended training and loan to 1,626,097 ARBs. Some 897,882 agrarian reform beneficiaries availed government loans, with the administration releasing a total of P18.7 billion for the initiative.