Close to 195,000 land titles have been distributed since President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. assumed the presidency, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said Tuesday.
In a news release on Tuesday, Secretary Conrado Estrella III said DAR’s collated year-end data report showed a total of 194,111 electronic titles (e-Titles), emancipation patents and Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA), covering 229,546 hectares of farmlands, have been distributed to 186,290 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in the last two and a half years.
Estrella said it was a 1,100-percent increase compared to the combined 17,640 titles, covering 26,403 hectares of farmlands, distributed to 17,549 ARBs in the last semester of the previous administration.
“This is a big development in our all-out war against hunger and poverty since the number of ARBs we were able to activate and motivate to till their farm lots has increased by leaps and bounds,” he said.
“With more hands tilling our farmlands, we will be able to produce more and spur rural development at a much quicker pace,” he added.
In the first few months of Marcos’ term alone, Estrella said DAR saw a 24-percent increase in land title distribution, with 21,876 titles covering 25,159 hectares handed out to 24,804 ARBs in the last semester of 2022.
In 2023, a 296-percent increase was recorded, with 69,897 land titles covering 84,044 hectares distributed to 73,399 ARBs.
Estrella said DAR broke records in 2024 by distributing 102,338 land titles covering 120,343 hectares to 88,087 ARBs, which is equivalent to a 480-percent increase compared to previous years.
Meanwhile, from the total number of 194,111 land titles, DAR distributed 132,393 e-titles covering 170,718 hectares of farmlands to 124,651 ARBs under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling project, and 61,718 newly generated EPs and CLOA covering 58,828 hectares of farmlands to 61,639 ARBs under the Regular Land Acquisition and Distribution program.
“This is a significant development in our relentless fight against hunger and poverty,” Estrella said.
“By empowering more ARBs to till their lands, we are not only fostering agricultural productivity but also promoting rural development at an accelerated pace,” he added. (PNA)