President Marcos is hopeful that the granting of land ownership award to agrarian beneficiaries, including agriculture graduates, would encourage more youth to study agriculture.

During the distribution of over 1,000 certificates of land ownership award (CLOAs) to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Coron, Palawan on Thursday, Sept. 19, Marcos said that including young agriculturists to the country's agrarian reform is crucial to get more Filipinos venture into agriculture.

"[A}ng agrarian reform program ay hindi lamang sa pagbigay ng lupa ngunit pagsuporta pa rin pati at kaya naman ay kasama po doon sa pagsulat, doon sa original na land reform program ay ang linagay pati na para paganahan po natin ang mga kabataan na pumasok po sa agrikultura (The agrarian reform program is not only about giving lands but also to support, as written in the original land reform program, to encourage our youth to get into agriculture)," Marcos said in his speech.

He stressed that many of the youth today "do not understand and are not thinking about agriculture" that they tend to find other jobs.

"Ngunit kailangan natin ng mga magsasaka. Kaya’t kasama po sa charter ng Agrarian Reform Program na ang lahat ng mga kabataan na dumaan at naging estudyante sa kurso ng agrikultura ay mabibigyan din ng --- nabibigyan din ng lupa (But we need farmers. That is why students, who took up agriculture, are included in the charter of agrarian reform program and they are given lands)," Marcos said.

The President further said including agriculture graduates into the program would allow them to utilize the modern methods they learned to improve the agriculture sector.

"At ito po ay tuluyang suporta. Nawa sa tulong na ito ay mahikayat kayo na isagawa ang mga makabago at maunlad na pamamaraan ng pagsasaka (And this is a continuous support. I hope that through this initiative, you would be encouraged to use the new and modern method of farming)," Marcos added.

The distribution of CLOAs in Coron benefits 1,217 agrarian reform beneficiaries from the 1,234 E-titles issued and registered under the Department of Agrarian Reform's (DAR) Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project, with an aggregate area of 2,921.96 hectares.

An additional 53 CLOAs were also distributed, covering 4.8277 hectares of land in Narra, Palawan which is a resettlement area.

According to Malacañang, the DAR sees the distribution as a breakthrough after all the challenges that hindered the acquisition and distribution of the Busuanga Pasture Reserve, a vast tract of agricultural land in the Island Municipalities of Coron and Busuanga.

Now, these agricultural lands are finally being handed over to landless farmers, including 19 agricultural graduates and 50 rebel returnees.

During the event, the completion of farm-to-market roads (FMRs) was also announced. These projects include San Nicolas to Sitio Caniogan FMR, Sitio Nalbot to Arado FMR, and Busuang to Caruray FMR.

The agricultural roads are poised to improve connectivity between farming communities and local markets, directly enhancing the quality of life and economic activities of around 1,075 ARBs in the First Legislative District of Palawan.