228 Tarlac farmers now landowners

SAN VICENTE, Tarlac City (April 25, 2017)—Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano led the distribution of certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) covering 349 hectares of land to 228 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) today at Diwa ng Tarlac Convention Center here.

Mariano, assisted by DAR Undersecretary for Support Services Rosalina Bistoyong and Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer (PARPO) Ileona Pangilinan awarded to the beneficiaries the 303 CLOAs situated in the municipalities of Anao, Camiling, Moncada, San Jose, San Manuel, Tarlac and Victoria.

“The CLOAs are just the first step towards more support from the government. Under the various programs and services of the DAR, farmers can avail of credit assistance, farm machineries, free agrarian legal advice and agrarian justice for farmers who have land problems,” said Mariano.

“There is no letting up in pursuing our mandate of distributing farmlands and providing support services to the farmer-beneficiaries to improve their quality of life,” Mariano said.

Meanwhile, Undersecretary Bistoyong encouraged the agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) to make the best use out of their newly titled lands by establishing an agrarian reform based-organization through which they can be assisted by the DAR.

 

“Support services is not given individually. It is important that you join or group yourselves into cooperatives so that you can readily avail of support services from the government,” Bistoyong explained to the farmers.

According to DAR PARPO Pangilinan, the department has lined up livelihood projects and programs for the farmers of Region 3.

Pangilinan said under the program beneficiaries development (PBD) of the DAR, the farmers were introduced and trained on red chili production. She said the DAR linked the farmers to potential buyer of their chilies.

“We have linked them to Nutri Asia, a company that produces various chili sauces. Currently, our farmers are selling their red chilies to this company,” said Pangilinan. 

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