A total of 475 hectares of land were distributed to 419 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) from 22 towns in the province.
Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones led the distribution of the certificates of land ownership at the Carmen Municipal Gymnasium on Thursday morning.
He was joined by Department of Social Welfare and Development Sec. Virginia Orogo, DAR Undersecretary Emily Padilla and local officials led by Gov. Edgar Chatto and Vice Gov. Dionisio Balite.
Castriciones, in a speech, warned beneficiaries not to sell or pawn their farm lots.
“Huwag ninyong ibebenta o isasanla ang inyong lupa, kapag ibebenta o ipangsasanla ang lupa niyo, babawiin namin yan,” Castriciones said.
For her part, Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer Grace Fua said that the land acquisition and distribution in the entire province was already “97 percent” complete.
Bohol has 120 agrarian reform beneficiary organizations, 52 agrarian reform communities and three foreign assisted projects.
The 475 hectares of land were distributed through five clusters, namely Tagbilaran, Carmen, Jagna, Talibon and Ubay.
TAGBILARAN CLUSTER
- Catigbian – 23.8 hectares, 8 ARBs
- Loon – 11.5 hectares, 12 ARBs
- San Isidro – 3.4 hectares, 5 ARBs
CARMEN CLUSTER
- Bilar – 33.5 hectares, 32 ARBs
- Carmen – 101.2 hectares, 112 ARBs
- Lila – 7.2 hectares, 6 ARBs
- Loboc – 8 hectares, 1 ARB
- Pilar – 3.5 hectares, 2 ARBs
- Sevilla – 3.5 hectares, 4 ARBs
- Sierra Bullones – 140 hectares, 85 ARBs
JAGNA CLUSTER
- Alicia – 8.9 hectares, 4 ARBs
- Candijay – 5 hectares, 4 ARBs
- Guindulman 33.2 hectares, 20 ARBs
TALIBON CLUSTER
- Bunevista – 2.1 hectares, 2 ARBs
- Danao – 24.1 hectares, 22 ARBs
- Getafe – 5.2 hectares, 5 ARBs
- Inabanga – 2.2 hectares, 3 ARBs
- Sagbayan – 4.3 hectares, 7 ARBs
UBAY CLUSTER
- Dagohoy 12.1 hectares, 17 ARBs
- San Miguel – 32 hectares, 33 ARs
- Trinidad – 9 hectares, 20 ARBs
- Ubay 6.6 hectares, 8 ARBs
Castriciones urged the recipients to till their land and use it for farming.
According to Castriciones, the initiative was intended to provide livelihood to farmers and help drive economic growth.
The government has allocated 561,000 hectares of land for distribution to qualified beneficiaries across the country, he said. (R. Tutas)