DAR wants provincial panels included in move to distribute agri lands

DAR Secretary Bernie Cruz in a press conference on Nov. 8 (FILE) Photo courtesy of DAR Facebook page

MANILA, Philippines — Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Bernie Cruz has proposed the inclusion of the Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating Committees (PARCCOM) in the parcelization of 1.36 million hectares of agricultural landholdings across the country.

Parcelization, according to DAR, involves “subdividing and determining the exact metes and bounds of the areas covered under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP),” among others.

“We will deliberate to work out PARCCOM’s inclusion in the SPLIT [Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling] project’s budget to speed up the objective of giving the ARBs [agrarian reform beneficiaries’] land tenure security and strengthen their rights to their property,” Cruz was quoted as saying in a press release posted on the agency’s website on Thursday.

The SPLIT seeks to expedite the parcelization of lands which have secured collective certificates of land ownership awards, and eventually issue individual land titles to eligible ARBs.

Cruz underscored the importance of PARCCOM’s role in the successful rollout of the parcelization scheme, which is seen to benefit around 1.1 million ARBs across 15 regions.

The PARCCOM, a partner of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council, is in charge of coordinating and monitoring the programs of agencies implementing the CARP.

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JPV