By Leilani S. Junio
CONCEPCION, Tarlac, (PNA) – “Finally, it is ours.”
This were the words uttered with tears by 84-year old Benigna Manalac, after receiving the Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) from Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) secretary Virgilio de Los Reyes on Monday morning in Barangay Pando, Concepcion, Tarlac.
Seated on a wheelchair, the old woman said tears can’t help falling from her eyes after she recalled how long she had waited for the fulfilment of their desire to own a land they tilled as famworker-beneficiaries in Hacienda Luisita.
“These are tears of joy,” she sighed after wiping her tears along with daughter Olivia Labis who accompanied her to receive the CLOA.
“We thanked God. This is always included in our prayers. I am very thankful to President Benigno S. Aquino III. He was true to his promise,” she said with a smile.
She said despite the long wait, it is still worthy and fulfilling to note that finally the long wait was over.
“We believed…now finally we got it,” she added as she points-out a certified true copy of the CLOA bearing her name as the owner of 6,600 square meter lot under CARP title 2013001255.
Aside from being recipient of the said lot, she also received another one, this time for the heirs of her daughter Corazon who died some years ago.
According to the old widowed woman, though she was too old to till the land and not as tough as she was a few years back, she is determined to make the land productive and feasible.
“With these lots, we believe we can have something to be productive. These will empower us to reach an improvement in our daily lives,” she added.
She swears she has no plan to sell the land.
“As we had promised we will not sell it. We will take care of it, we will cultivate and plant variety of crops that will give us profitable income,” she added.
She said in due time she is willing to leave the land to her heirs as a lasting legacy and tell them to love it the way she and her husband has love it.
Like other farmworker-beneficiaries in Hacienda Luisita, Aling Benigna recalled how she had worked there as Foreman before while her husband was a seasonal tractor operator.
She said their love for each other bloomed as they built a family together and later began dreaming of owning the land they tilled until her husband died and left her widowed.
“I wish he was still alive to see it. I am sure wherever he is now, he is very happy too,” she again sobbed in tears.
“This is the fulfilment of the longings and prayers of my parents,” said Edgardo Palacio, 57 year-old farmworker-heir beneficiary happily, said.
Together with wife Mina, he said the event gave them more than a great bundle of joy.
“For me its more than a digging “a mine of gold,” he explained as he smiled and hold Mina’s hands as if declaring once more his love for his wife during an interview with this reporter.
Aside from receiving a lot as an heir of his parents who were both dead, he also received one for himself, while his wife a farmworker too, received another one bringing into a total of three lots the lands they received together.
“We will take care of the land. We will plant variety of crops. We will help each other as husband and wife for the future of our four children,” they vowed together without inhibition as they looked into each other eyes.
They said the distribution marks President Aquino’s sincere desire to really make land reform program a dream come true under his term despite some obstacles.
“I think he will be best remembered through this. This is a historical day for us. This day is really very special for us,” he added.
According to DAR Secretary De los Reyes, the distribution in Brgy Pando is just the start of other series of distribution of CLOA scheduled today and until October 18.
He recalled that before many criticized DAR and even doubted if it really can fulfil the role of land distribution in Hacienda Luisita was a very big challenge they had face.
“But now it is being fulfilled, I believe we should not dwell much on the past. Let’s move forward and think of ways to make the lots of these recipients work for their best interest and make them more productive and thus empowered citizens of the country,” he added.
The DAR chief said together with Department of Agriculture and other government agencies they will continue to implement ways in order to provide support services and educate the beneficiaries to properly utilized their land.
“What we will provide are available support services in store for them. I want to make it clear we are not dictating them because in the end, all the said lots belong to them,” he explained.
He also added that what they can give are advises or suggestions.
“It is up to them to decide which method they will apply or crops they will plant which they believe can give them more profitable income and will improved their lives which the President desires,” he added.