A total of 56 Pantawid Pamilya program beneficiaries in Mabinay town received their free patent titles from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) during the first Pantawid Pamilya Caravan held in Negros Oriental.
Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Oscar Magallones handed over the free patent titles to the beneficiaries from Brgy. Tara and Brgy. Baras during the caravan held Oct. 28 at the Mabinay Gymnasium.
The issuance of free patents is in line with the Handog Sa Titutlo program implemented by DENR through the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO).
“We are targeting to distribute 1,800 free patents under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in the province,” Magallones said in an interview.
Said recipients are among the nearly 2,000 Pantawid Pamilya program beneficiaries who participated in the caravan held in the hinterland town of Mabinay, 87 kilometers away from Dumaguete City, the capital city of Negros Oriental.
DENR was one of the eight government agencies that participated in the convergence caravan with the aim of bringing government services closer to the people, particularly to the beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya, an anti-poverty program spearheaded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The Handog sa Titulo program is an ongoing program implemented by DENR nationwide aimed at giving land to the landless consistent with the national government’s poverty reduction efforts.
In line with said program, DENR also started implementing last year its Residential Free Patent program under R.A. 10023 or the Residential Land Patent Act of 2010 for lots located within the poblacion areas.
“These are for areas in the poblacion that don’t have titles yet,” explained Magallones.
Qualified to apply for the residential free patents are landowners in the poblacion whose untitled lots are declared as residential under the local government’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan, he said.
For first and second class cities, the maximum area that may be applied is 200 square meters and between 500 to 750 square meters for municipalities.
Interested applicants may contact the local DENR office for further details. (RMN/PIA Negros Oriental)