'Dream come true' for Maguindanao farmers

COTABATO CITY -- A dream come true for about 100 farmer-beneficiaries from the province of Maguindanao after they received certificates of land ownership (CLOs) on Wednesday. The farmer beneficiaries received the much awaited CLOs during the Department of Agrarian Reform-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (DAR-ARMM) first Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB) conference here. Amihilda Sangcopan, DAR-ARMM regional secretary, Lawyer Rasol Mitmug Jr, ARMM chief of staff and Lawyer Laisa Alamia, ARMM executive secretary, handed over the CLO awards to the visibly happy beneficiaries. One of the beneficiaries was Ulambai Sendad, a farmer from Datu Anggal town in Maguindanao. We have been waiting this CLO for so long, I have been tilling our land for decades, she said. Now, its in our hands, its a rebirth of our ownership of our land. Ulambai, a 42-year old mother of four, received 7,373 square meters of landholding as stated in her CLO. andltpandgtSangcopan said the land parcels she and other beneficiaries received were part of the 112,290 hectares in ARMM still subject for distribution under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). andltpandgtSec. Sangcopan said CLOs will also be distributed to farmer-beneficiaries in the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Lanao del Sur. The distribution for the other provinces, she said, will be held on the upcoming agrarian reform beneficiaries conferences scheduled later this year. To effectively address the issues of farmers which for so many years have fell into deaf ears, Sec. Alamia said the regional government is working on institutionalizing the conferences to address the issues of the farmers in the region. Ang ARB conference ay magbibigay daan upang masolusyonan ang mga problema ng ating mga farmer-beneficiaries (The ARB conference would pave the way in solving the problems of the farmer-beneficiaries),” she said. The Maguindanao conference was held at the Shariff Kabunsuan Cultural Complex in Cotabato City bearing the theme, Dalisay na repormang pansakahan tungo sa kaunlaran ng kanayunan (Agrarian reform leading to the development of rural communities).”