Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 21) – The Philippines signed the US$370-million loan from the World Bank to hasten land distribution to farmer-beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
In a statement released on Monday, the Department of Finance said it inked the loan agreement on July 14 that will help finance the Department of Agrarian Reform’s Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III emphasized the SPLIT project will support the Philippine national government’s economic recovery program for farmers who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The SPLIT project will improve the bankability of farmers and enable them to access credit and government assistance,” said Dominguez.
Achim Fock, the then World Bank Acting Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand who signed the deal for the international monetary institution, hopes the SPLIT project can help agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) to invest in their property and adopt better technologies for greater productivity and higher incomes.
The US$473.56-million SPLIT project aims to parcelize the collective certificate of land ownership awards (CCLOA) into individual titles for about 750,000 ARBs, which will fulfill the completion of CARP.
CARP was signed into law by President Corazon Aquino in 1989, which seeks to distribute around 7.8 million hectares of land to farmers that will help them cope with poverty.
So far, the Philippine national government has redistributed about 4.8 million hectares of land to some 2.8 million beneficiaries under CARP, but only 53 percent were in the form of individual land titles.
The remaining 47 percent or around 2.5 million hectares are CCLOA titles issued to ARBs in the 90s as a temporary measure to expedite the land distribution to farmer-beneficiaries.
“Through the project, ARBs will be provided security of tenure by way of issuance of individual titles. If ARBs or members of their family fall ill, clear and valid documentation of their property will allow them to mortgage their land, sell, or pass it on to their family members through inheritance,” the DOF stressed.
The loan agreement for the SPLIT project carries a 29-year maturity period and inclusive of a grace period of 10-and-a-half years.
