The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Negros Oriental province plans to distribute additional individual land titles and mortgage condonation certificates to thousands of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) next month, an official said Tuesday.

Manuel Galon, the provincial agrarian reform officer, said the initiative is part of the DAR’s ongoing Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project, which aims to subdivide collective land ownership titles into individual titles.

“We expect that by December, we will have registered over 2,000 hectares of lands under individual or e-titles, benefiting an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 ARBs,” Galon told the Philippine News Agency.

He added that their office regularly receives individual titles from the Register of Deeds and anticipates more Certificates of Condonation with Release of Mortgage (CoCRoM) to arrive soon.

Funded by the World Bank, the SPLIT Project aims to convert 1.38 million hectares of collective CLOAs into individual titles to improve land tenure security for ARBs.

Under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration, the DAR is also fast-tracking the issuance of CoCRoMs to ARBs. Galon described this initiative as the administration’s significant contribution to land reform, reducing financial burdens on farmer-beneficiaries.

On Nov. 16, the DAR distributed various land titles and condonation certificates at the Macias Sports Center in Dumaguete City. The distribution included 75 new CLOAs for 98 ARBs, covering 73.13 hectares; 2,225 e-titles for 1,642 ARBs, covering 2,269 hectares; and 6,707 CoCRoMs for 5,549 ARBs, covering 71,580 hectares.

The mortgage condonation certificates eliminated over PHP727.7 million in debts and mortgages for the beneficiaries.

The next round of distribution is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 14, Galon said. (PNA)