ARBs from Samar are first recipients of COCROM in E. Visayas

By JOSE ALSMITH L. SORIA
December 10, 2024

CALBAYOG CITY, Samar – Agrarian reform beneficiary (ARB) Gary Rubante from this city was so happy to receive from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) his Certificate of Condonation with Release of Mortgage (COCROM) on Sunday, December 8 this year, which relieved him from financial burden over the farmland awarded to him under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

"Maraming-maraming salamat po kay Secretary Conrado Estrella III ng DAR at kay Pangulong Bongbong Marcos dahil ipinagkaloob nya po ito. Sa wakas ay wala na po kaming babayarang ganito kalaking halaga, P111,842," Rubante exclaimed.

Rubante is one of the 1,504 ARBs from the provinces of Western Samar and Northern Samar who are the first recipients of COCROM distributed in Eastern Visayas, held at the Calbayog Sports Center.

Presidential sister, Senator Imee Marcos, was supposed to hand the 2,140 COCROMs that will erase P41,333,397.65 of unpaid amortizations and debts incurred from the 2,813-hectare lands awarded to them under agrarian reform programs. But due to the inclement weather, she was not permitted by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to depart from the Tacloban City airport.

The distribution rites proceeded with DAR Assistant Secretary Rene Colocar alongside DAR Eastern Visayas Regional Director Robert Anthony Yu, Samar First District Representative Stephen James Tan, Vice Governor Arnold Tan, and City Mayor Raymund Uy, leading the distribution.

On July 7 last year, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 11953, or the New Agrarian Emancipation Act that will condone P57.557 billion principal debts of 610,054 ARBs nationwide.

Aside from the COCROMs, 592 electronically generated individual titles under the Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project and 10 Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) covering an aggregate area of 1,127.1534 hectares were likewise given to 532 ARBs from the above mentioned provinces on the same occasion.