Through the DENR's Handog Titulo Program, the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of San Juan in Southern Leyte, in collaboration with the Registry of Deeds (ROD) and the local government unit of Hinundayan, recently distributed 335 agricultural free patents to qualified beneficiaries in Hinundayan, Southern Leyte.
"You now have original certificates of title in your possession, which serve as evidence of an inconvertible title to the lands you have possessed and tilled for decades," Forester Alexander Casco, Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer of CENRO San Juan, told the recipients, emphasizing the importance of land titles.
"Protect and secure your titles in the same way that you will develop and improve the lands that are truly yours now," he added.
Adela B. Cocharo, a septuagenarian recipient from Brgy. Lungsod Daan, Hinundayan, Southern Leyte, expressed her gratitude to the DENR for assisting her in obtaining title to land that has been in our possession for decades. My children's rights to it are also secure now that it is truly mine."
The title distribution is consistent with the Department's improved land administration and management program.
This includes processing and issuing free patents for agricultural and residential lands to provide occupants and landowners with the security of tenure on alienable and disposable (A&D) lands through a simplified, streamlined, and cost-effective administrative titling process.