The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) listed 25,767 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Eastern Visayas as recipients of the condonation of debt and amortization.

DAR 8 (Eastern Visayas) Director Robert Anthony Yu said the recipients, cultivating 54,117 hectares of land, were confirmed qualified beneficiaries after receiving certificates of land ownership awards and electronic titles.

“They have been verified. We must process for them to get a certificate that their loans are already condoned,” Yu told reporters during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas on Tuesday.

Of the total, 14,597 beneficiaries are from Leyte province, 6,718 from Samar, 3,014 from Northern Samar, 642 from Southern Leyte, 556 from Eastern Samar, and 240 from Biliran.

The DAR-8 is still getting figures from the Land Bank of the Philippines on the amount of amortization for these 25,767 farmers.

Nationwide, about 610,054 ARBs are expected to benefit from the law, seen by the government as the driver of food security.

The condonation covers an estimated 1.17 million hectares of land, with an estimated PHP57.55 billion in unpaid amortizations.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed on July 9, 2023, Republic Act 11953, or the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, which condones all loans, including interests, penalties, and surcharges incurred by ARBs from land awarded to them. (PNA)