MANILA, (PNA) — Starting September 30, 2013 up to the middle of October, distribution of the much-awaited certified true copies of the Certificates of Land Ownership Award to qualified farmworker beneficiaries (FWBs) in the 10 barangays of Hacienda Luisita in the city of Tarlac will begin.
This was confirmed over the weekend by Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Anthony Parungao as he disclosed that finally the long-cherished dream of farmworker-beneficiaries will finally come true.
“After years of struggling for the land, farmworker-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita will finally receive land titles for the farm lots allocated to them,” Undersecretary Anthony Parungao said.
Parungao cited that, as of September 25, 2013, the CLOAs of about 5,800 qualified FWBs who had signed and filed their Application to Purchase and Farmers Undertaking (APFU) were already generated by DAR and registered with the Register of Deeds.
“As of September 25, 2013, only 296 FWBs have yet to claim their Lot Allocation Certificates (LAC), while only 377 FWBs have yet to sign and file their APFUs,” Parungao explained.
He, however, clarified that the DAR continues to seek out the FWBs who have yet to claim their LACs or file their APFUs.
He noted that a good number of FWBs are either working abroad or living outside of Tarlac, and were thus unable to claim their LACs or sign and file their APFUs.
“Their CLOAs will be generated and registered as soon as they have signed their APFUs”, Parungao said.
“We have taken the initiative of searching for these beneficiaries to see how we can help them claim their lots”, Parungao said.
“Our field facilitators are out there seeking them out so they can assist them.”
Parungao further explained that under the law, agrarian reform beneficiaries have to pay amortizations for their CARP-awarded land for a period of 30 years.
In the meantime, the Owner’s Duplicate Copy of the CLOAs will be held by the Land Bank of the Philippines.
He clarified that what will be distributed to the FWBs of Hacienda Luisita will be the certified true copies of their CLOAs, which, nevertheless, constitute proof of ownership of their CARP-awarded farm lands.
The distribution of CLOAs will start in Barangay Pando on September 30, to be followed by Barangay Motrico on October 1, and Barangay Lourdes the following day.
Distribution resumes on October 8 at Parang then Mabilog (October 9) and Bantog (October 10).
The DAR will distribute CLOAs in the four remaining barangays: Cutcut (October 15), Asturias (October 16), Balete (October 17), and Mapalacsiao (October 18).
“After the CLOA distribution, what remains to be done is the delineation of the boundaries of the farm lots on the ground by setting up monuments or boundary stones,” Parungao added.
Monumenting, Parungao explained, is the actual physical marking of lots with “muhons”.
“Since most of the land is currently planted with mature sugar cane, it will be impossible to mark the lots on the ground before the harvest season sometime this November,” he added.
Monumenting will be undertaken as soon as an area is harvested. FWBs will be instantly installed. The installation of all FWBs is expected to finish by early next year.