THE DEPARTMENT of Agrarian Reform (DAR) on Wednesday said it has distributed 146,017 land titles to beneficiaries under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos as of last month.

At a Senate finance committee hearing on the agency’s proposed P11.101 billion budget next year, Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado M. Estrella III said his agency has also condoned about P57.56 billion of debt covering 610,054 beneficiaries debt this year.

“This year, DAR has distributed 54,874 land titles and before the year ends, we are targeting to distribute 101,666 more to our farmers,” he said in mixed English and Filipino.

The DAR chief earlier told congressmen that the agency plans on fast-tracking its digitalization efforts to streamline land reform data by October next year. — John Victor D. Ordoñez