MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte – Ninety-two-year-old Lino Malasaga, an abaca farmer for more than 70 years, could hardly find words to describe how he felt after receiving his certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR).
Malasaga, who lives in Barangay Hantag, an upland village in this southernmost city in Eastern Visayas, still cannot believe that the land he had been tilling for decades is already registered in his name.
“Our dream of having a land we can call our own has been fulfilled,” Malasaga said.
For farmers, “land means life,” he said. “This, to us, is our life, which will help us secure the future of our children.”
Malasaga was one of the nine agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) from this city who received individual CLOAs from DAR Eastern Visayas Regional Director, Robert Anthony Yu, at the Leyte Progressive High School in Tacloban City.
Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer Vissa Arnela Villa disclosed that Malasaga was awarded 1.2 hectares, which is part of the 6.4-hectare abaca farm situated in the adjacent village, Malapoc Sur, once covered by a collective CLOA.
When Villa visited Malasaga last week to facilitate the issuance of tax declarations to ARBs as new owners of lands awarded under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), Malasaga said that during the long years that passed, he did not expect that the day would come when he would be able to hold the land title that he had longed for.
He thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III for the free land title, which according to him, “We did not spend a single centavo.”
He also expressed his gratitude to Villa and her staff for the help they had extended to them.
With his memory still sharp, Malasaga shared, “I started working on that land when I was only 12 years old.”
“As the eldest, I shouldered the responsibility of my father when he died. I worked hard on that land to feed my mother and my siblings. That is why I was not able to go to school,” Malasaga reminisced.
Now a widower, Malasaga is advised by his children to rest from his farming activities and just entrust everything to them.
Malasaga was the oldest recipient in Eastern Visayas of individual land titles handed by the DAR during the simultaneous distribution of CLOAs nationwide on July 7 this year. The CLOA distribution coincided with the signing into law of Republic Act 11953 or the New Agrarian Emancipation Act.
The Republic Act 11953 freed ARBs from debts incurred from the amortization of lands awarded under Presidential Decree 27 and Republic Acts 6657 and 9700.
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92-anyos na magsasaka sa Southern Leyte sa wakas ay may-ari na ng lupa
MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte – Halos hindi na makapagsalita sa kasiyahan ang 92 anyos na si Lino Malasaga, isang magsasaka ng abaka sa loob ng mahigit 70 taon, para ilarawan ang kanyang naramdaman matapos matanggap ang kanyang certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) mula sa Department of Agrarian. Reporma (DAR).
Si Malasaga, na nakatira sa Barangay Hantag, isang bulubunduking nayon sa pinakatimog na lungsod na ito sa Eastern Visayas, ay hindi pa rin makapaniwala na ang lupang kanyang binubungkal sa loob ng mga dekada ay nakarehistro na sa kanyang pangalan.
“Natupad na ang pangarap naming mga magsasaka na magkaroon ng sariling lupa,” ani Malasaga.
Para sa mga magsasaka, “ang lupa ay buhay,” aniya. “Ito, sa amin, ang aming buhay, na tutulong sa amin na matiyak ang kinabukasan ng aming mga anak.”
Si Malasaga ay isa sa siyam na agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) mula sa lungsod na ito na nakatanggap ng mga indibidwal na CLOA mula kay DAR Eastern Visayas Regional Director, Robert Anthony Yu, sa Leyte Progressive High School sa Tacloban City.
Ibinunyag ni Municipal Agrarian Reform Program Officer Vissa Arnela Villa na si Malasaga ay ginawaran ng 1.2 ektarya, na bahagi ng 6.4-ektaryang abaca farm na matatagpuan sa katabing nayon, sa Malapoc Sur, na dating sakop ng isang collective CLOA.
Nang bumisita ni Villa noong nakaraang lingo kay Malasaga uapng mapadali ang pag-iisyu ng tax declarations sa ARBs bilang mga bagong may-ari ng mga lupang iginawad sa ilalim ng Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), sinabi ni Malasaga na sa maraming taon na lumipas, hindi niya inaasahan na darating pa ang araw na kanyang mahahawakan ang titulo ng lupa na kay tagal na niyang inasam.
Pinasalamatan niya sina Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III para sa libreng titulo ng lupa, na ayon sa kanya, “Wala kaming ginastos kahit isang sentimo.”
Nagpahayag din siya ng pasasalamat kay Villa at sa mga tauhan nito sa tulong na ipinaabot nila sa kanila.
Sa kanyang matalas pang pag-iisip, naala-ala pa ni Malasaga ang kanyang kabataan sa pagsasaka. “Nagsimula akong magtrabaho sa lupang iyon noong 12 taong gulang pa lang ako.”
“Bilang panganay, inako ko ang responsibilidad ng aking ama nang mamatay siya. Nagsumikap ako sa lupang iyon para pakainin ang aking ina at ang aking mga kapatid. Kaya nga hindi ako nakapag-aral,” dagdag pa ni Malasaga.
Ngayong biyudo na, pinayuhan si Malasaga ng kanyang mga anak na magpahinga sa kanyang mga gawain sa pagsasaka at ipagkatiwala na lang sa kanila ang lahat.
Si Malasaga ang pinakamatandang nakatanggap sa Eastern Visayas ng mga indibidwal na titulo ng lupa na iniabot ng DAR sa sabay-sabay na pamamahagi ng mga CLOA sa buong bansa noong Hulyo 7 ngayong taon. Ang pamamahagi ng CLOA ay kasabay ng paglagda sa batas ng Republic Act 11953 o ang New Agrarian Emancipation Act.
Pinalaya ng Republic Act 11953 ang mga ARB mula sa mga utang na natamo mula sa amortization ng mga lupang iginawad sa ilalim ng Presidential Decree 27 at Republic Acts 6657 at 9700.
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