SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews / 9 July) — An estimated P1 billion in loans by agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Caraga region with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) will be written off after the New Agrarian Emancipation Bill or Republic Act 11593 was signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday.
The new law condones a total of P57.56 billion of unpaid loan amortizations incurred by around 600,000 ARBs cultivating 1.173 million hectares of land across the country.
Lawyer Merlita Capinpuyan, Caraga Regional Director of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), said 10,945 ARBs will directly benefit from the new law.
“Around P1,001,753,813 amount of loan of our ARBs in the region from the Land Bank of the Philippines will be condoned through the new law,” Capinpuyan said.
Of the total loan, she noted that the P474,493,176 principal amount has an accumulated interest of P527,260,637.The loan condonation will cover 12,933 Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) and Emancipation Patents covering 18,666 hectares previously released by DAR-13 to beneficiaries.
Under the new law, all loans of the ARBs, including interests, penalties, and surcharges from the land awarded through Presidential Decree No. 27, RA 6657, and RA 9700 will be condoned.
Among the beneficiaries who received a CLOA is Bonifacia Arevado, 62, who has one hectare of rice field in Barangay Santa Ana, San Francisco.
She said with the new law her remaining unpaid amortization of P30,000 to LBP is already condoned.
Arevado was awarded the CLOA under CARP for an abandoned three-hectare land owned by a retired teacher whose children told DAR that they are no longer interested to maintain the farm.
The abandoned farm was shared among her, her cousin and a neighbor and was redeveloped in 2017.
“I am happy with this new law since the amount of the remaining balance could be used to further improve their rice land,” Arevado said.A total of 2,687 ARBs from the five provinces of Caraga Region on Friday received individual land titles and CLOAs covering 4,505 hectares of lands from DAR.
The event, held at the provincial capitol’s Datu Lipus Makapandong Cultural Center in Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, was timed with the signing of RA 11993 by Marcos. (Chris V. Panganiban/MindaNews)
