Granting individual land titles to beneficiaries improved yield, tax collection —DAR

The government’s Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project for agrarian reform beneficiaries has been improving the farmers’ yield and tax collection of local government units, Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III said Thursday.

Estrella made the statement when asked by House Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas about the SPLIT project.

“Majority of our ARBs who previously had collective CLOA (Certificate of Land Ownership Award) are very happy that they now have their respective [land] titles.  Sapagkat ‘yan ho ang naging sakit ng ulo natin [noon]. Kasi single title, numerous owners, hindi na-parcel, eh hindi na nakalagay doon na si ganyan ay [ang lupa] naroon sa malapit sa tulay, siya [naman, ang lupa ay] doon sa malapit sa irigasyon. It led to a peace and order problem, and nobody was paying taxes because the ownership is not pinpointed,” he said.

“Even the [food] production [of yield] was affected because they don't know where they're going...which portion [of the land] are they going to till. So finally, we are now providing, we are now awarding them, individual titles. Tuwang-tuwa po ang mga tao,” he added. 

Estrella said the SPLIT program has also motivated ARBs to seek for better yield, and that local government units also benefit with the certainty of land ownership in terms of tax collection.

“Ngayon ho, napapansin namin, mas ganado silang magsaka dahil alam na nila, kung saan sila eh. All the while, this is also going to provide additional revenue to our local government units because there is established [land] ownership,” he said.

“Now, we know who to collect tax from, who are not paying their tax dues,” he added.

Estrella also assured Brosas that ARBs will not hoodwinked by bigtime real estate investors to sell their land, saying that Republic Act 11953 or the  New Agrarian Emancipation Act explicitly states that ARBs who have received individual land title cannot sell their land for 10 years.

“There is a prescribed period [when they can sell]. Kapag nahuli po namin na 'yan ay ibinenta nila, nang wala pa pong sampung taon, babawiin po namin 'yan at ibibigay po namin sa ibang owner,” Estrella said.

Likewise, the DAR chief said he also expects the SPLIT program to further improve since the World Bank, which finances 78% of the project, approved the Philippines’ request to extend it because its implementation was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SPLIT program was supposed to run from 2021 to 2024, but Estrella said DAR sought extension since the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the implementation of the program.

“We were so fortunate enough that our request for the extension of this program was granted by World Bank. Since the World Bank approved it, we will have more [sets of] accurate data,” he said.

The proposed 2025 budget has allocated P669.56 million funding for the SPLIT program, given that the Philippine government’s counterpart funding for the project is 22%.

The total project cost of the SPLIT program is around P24.625 billion.—AOL, GMA Integrated News