President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. pledged on Tuesday, Jan. 10, to expedite efforts to distribute land ownership titles to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) this year.

This assurance was given by the President during a Cabinet meeting in Malacañang, where the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) presented its accomplishments for 2022 as well as its goals for this year.
Marcos has directed the agrarian reform department to increase efforts to distribute certificates of land ownership awards (CLOAs) to farmer-beneficiaries.
As such, he vowed to provide much-needed assistance to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in improving their living conditions.
The DAR stated in a Dec. 19 statement that it intends to complete the subdivision of approximately 34,500 collective CLOAs covering 345,089 hectares of land and issue 134,000 individual titles to ARBs.
Likewise, the agrarian reform department said that it is looking forward to the Senate version of House Bill (HB) 6336, also known as the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, which is expected to ease the financial burden of ARBs by forgiving unpaid amortizations and interest.
HB 6336 also seeks to exempt the payment of real estate tax on agricultural lands awarded under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
“For 2023, DAR will deliver as expected and we will continue to bring government closer to the people,” Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III said.