Regional and provincial offices of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) can proceed with the registration of electronic Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) under the Support to Parcelization of Land for Individual Titling (SPLIT) even without the owners’ duplicate copies of land titles.

“An affidavit of loss will do,” Engr. Joey Sumatra, DAR Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning and Research who is also the SPLIT national project director in concurrent capacity, said.

In a memorandum addressed to all DAR regional directors and provincial agrarian reform program officers, Sumatra advised them to execute affidavits of loss and insert them as attachments among the documents required for the subdivision of collective CLOAs.

Sumatra emphasized that the presentation of affidavits of loss in lieu of the owner’s duplicate copies of land titles was recommended by no less than Gerardo P. Sirios, the administrator of the Land Registration Authority, during a meeting with the DAR Undersecretary for Foreign-Assisted and Special Project Jesry Palmares last April 28.

The DAR is exhausting all means to expedite the processing of e-individual titles for distribution to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), who are members of farmers’ cooperatives to whose names the collective CLOAs are referred to.

Previous DAR administrations had preferred the distribution of collective CLOAs in their efforts to save time and beat the expiry date of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which initially had a 10-year implementing period.

The enormous job of distributing more than 4 million hectares of farmlands to some 3 million ARBs resulted to the extension of program’s land distribution component for another 10 years and, again, for five years.

DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III said accelerating the subdivision of collective CLOAs into individual titles is the key to empowering farmer-beneficiaries as it enables each of them to direct their individual aspirations as new landowners.

“It will also help improve the farmer-beneficiaries’ security of tenure and strengthen their property rights,” Estrella stressed.

Lahat ng opisina ng Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) sa iba’t-ibang mga rehiyon at mga lalawigan ay maaaring magpatuloy sa pagpaparehistro ng electronic Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) sa ilalim ng Support to Parcelization of Land for Individual Titling (SPLIT) kahit walang duplicate copy ng mga titulo para sa mga dating may-ari ng lupa.

“Ang affidavit of loss ay sapat na,” ani Engr. Joey Sumatra, DAR Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning and Research, na siya ring tumatayo bilang SPLIT national project director.

Sa memorandum na ipinadala sa lahat ng DAR regional directors at provincial agrarian reform program officers, pinayuhan sila ni Sumatra na magsagawa ng affidavits of loss at isama ang mga ito bilang bahagi ng mga dokumentong kinakailangan para sa paghahati-hati ng mga collective CLOAs.

Binigyang-diin ni Sumatra na ang paghalili ng affidavits of loss sa kopya ng titulo ng dating may-ari ng lupa ay rekomendasyon mismo ni Gerardo P. Sirios, ang administrador ng Land Registration Authority, sa isang pulong sa pagitan ni Sirios at ni DAR Undersecretary for Foreign-Assisted and Special Project Jesry Palmares nitong ika-28 ng Abril.

Ginagawa ng DAR ang lahat ng paraan upang mapabilis ang pag-proseso ng mga electronic individual titles para sa pamamahagi sa mga agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs), na pawang kasapi ng mga kooperatiba ng the magsasaka, kung saan ipinangalan ang mga collective CLOAs.

Mas pinili ng mga dating administrasyon ng DAR na mamahagi ng mga collective CLOAs upang makatipid ng panahon sa pagtatangka na matapos ang programang pamamahagi ng lupa bago pa magwakas ang Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) na sa una ay binigyan lamang ng 10 taon para maisakatuparan.

Ang napakalaking trabaho ng pamamahagi ng mahigit sa 4 na milyong ektarya ng mga lupaing pansakahan sa humigit-kumulang 3 milyong ay nagresulta sa pagpapalawig ng bahagi ng pamamahagi ng lupapara sa isa pang 10 taon at, muli pa, ng limang taon.

Sinabi ni DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III na ang pagpapabilis ng paghahati-hati ng mga collective CLOAs para sa bawat isang ARBs ang siyang susi upang bigyang lakas ang mga magsasaka na abutin ang kani-kanilang pangarap bilang may-ari ng lupa.

“Makatutulong din ito upang siguruhin ang seguridad sa lupa at palakasin ang kanilang karapatan sa ari-arian,” diin ni Estrella.