DAR-ARMM confers 237 land ownership certificates to CARP beneficiaries in Siasi, Sulu

COTABATO CITY – A total of 237 Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) were conferred today to beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in the town of Siasi in Sulu.In a ceremony led by regional Agrarian Reform Secretary Amihilda Sangcopan, agrarian reform partners from Tulling Farm Workers Multi-Purpose Cooperative of the Tulling Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) formally received their land ownership certificates.Local conflicts arising from land disputes due to ambiguous boundaries of individual lots hampered cooperative activities and thus exacted a toll on the area’s productivity in the past.DAR-ARMM’s initiative of conducting a relocation survey, erecting monuments leading to the turnover of CLOA is a landmark intervention by the regional government in solving agrarian reform issues in the community.Provided for under Republic Act 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, CLOA is intended to promote social justice among the marginalized, specifically workers in the agricultural sector, through land tenure.It is a legal document that serves as an evidence of ownership, subject to restrictions, and secures the tenure of the farmers to the agricultural land they till. Among its basic restriction is that the beneficiary could not sell, transfer, or donate the land awarded to him over a period of 10 years after he received the certificate.The land area covered by Tulling ARC used to be owned by Filagro Corp. before it was covered by CARP in 1991. The farm workers then were considered as agricultural laborers who do not have the rights over the land they till.The Tulling ARC is situated in the northern part of the island municipality of Siasi. The town is composed of five barangays namely Tulling, Siundoh, Manta, North Manta, Minapan. (Bureau of Public Information)