DENR gives 10,500 titles to farmers in Central Luzon

By Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu

Monday 9th of July 2012

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, July 9 (PIA) -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recently awarded 10,487 titles covering 5,089 hectares of public parcels to landless farmers in Central Luzon to redistribute socio-economic wealth and promote social justice.

In an interview, newly-installed DENR Regional Executive Director Maximo Dichoso disclosed that titles were distributed via Republic Act 10023, otherwise known as the New Free Patent Act.

Under the law, DENR issues titles called “patents” to deserving beneficiaries to legalize their private rights on residential lands.

Dichoso added: “The process of acquiring patents is practically the same with the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program being implemented by Department of Agrarian Reform where some 6,494 titles covering 5,002 hectares of public lands had been distributed.”

Since 1999, DENR has awarded 87,721 patents in Central Luzon to eligible claimants covering 53,354 hectares.

It is set to complete four cadastral survey projects in Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Aurora, and Zambales before the end of the year to support government’s land distribution program and help settle land disputes cases and boundary conflicts in these areas.

Cadastral survey projects involve surveying extensive tracts of previously unsurveyed or incompletely surveyed lands in towns, cities, and provinces to expedite land registration and promote land valuation and taxation efforts of local governments.

The agency resolved around 130 land claims and conflict cases in 2011 while more than P15 million in government revenues were collected from private sales, fines, and leases of public lands. (WLB/CLJD-PIA 3)