MANILA – The Land Bank of the Philippines on Thursday said it gave the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) 208,895 Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) covering a total of 354,783 hectares of land for land reform beneficiaries.
“LandBank is committed to serve farmers and fishers, including agrarian reform beneficiaries, in fulfillment of our mandate and pursuit of promoting growth in the countryside,” LandBank president and CEO Cecilia Borromeo said.
The state-owned lender serves as financial intermediary for the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), with tasks such as computing the value of lands acquired by the Department of Agrarian Reform for distribution to beneficiaries.
“We fully support DAR in the issuance of CLOAs and helping agrarian reform beneficiaries to gain more liberty and control over their lands, through which we hope to increase agricultural productivity,” Borromeo said.
To help increase agricultural productivity of the beneficiaries, LandBank said it initially allocated P5 billion for a newly-enhanced direct lending program which specifically caters to them.
Under the Accessible Funds for Delivery to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (AFFORD-ARBs) Program, the beneficiaries may take out loans to finance rice, corn, and high-value crops production, as well as the acquisition of small farm implements.
The lender said it will focus on lending to individual ARBs with “Emancipation Patents or CLOAs,” leaseholders with existing leasehold contracts or any title under Agrarian Reform Programs, identified through a list to be provided by DAR.
“We have a focused approach for this program which involves knowing them better—who they are, where they are, and what crops they will plant. So that when DAR gives the CLOAs, LandBank will be there ready to provide credit assistance to finance their farming needs, enabling them to become even more productive and efficient,” Borromeo said. (GMA News)
