Agrarian Reform Issues

7/28/2019 Agrarian Reform Issues

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AGRARIAN REFORMISSUES

Symposium

March 12, 2012

Aelimianum College, Inc.


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In an agrarian country such as the

Philippines where majority of thepeople are peasants, land reform isa must if the government seeks to

respond to the needs of the people,and achieve peace and developmentfor the nation.


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The most recent of these programs

is the Aquino regimesComprehensive Agrarian ReformProgram (CARP). Enacted on June10, 1988, Republic Act 6657 or the

Comprehensive Agrarian ReformLaw was supposed to beimplemented for 10 years.


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Falling short of its targets, the

Agrarian Reform Law wasextended by the Ramosadministration for another 10years. It expired for the second

time in June 2008.


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In June 2099, the House ofRepresentatives adopted HouseResolution 4077, or theComprehensive Agrarian ReformProgram Extension with Reforms

(CARPER). Only 13 voted no andtwo abstained.

Shorty thereafter, the bicameral

conference committee voted forthe extension of the CARP foranother five years.


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In August, Arroyo signed theCARPER, a consolidation of HouseBill No. 4077 and Senate Bill No.2666, effectively extending theCARP from July 1, 2009 to June

30, 2014.


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Will the CARPER finally resolve thecenturies-old problem oflandlessness afflicting thepeasantry?


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A genuine agrarian-reformprogram should result in the freedistribution of land to the tillers.After all, land, which should beuniversally available to all, was

merely grabbed and titled bylandlords who were close to theSpanish and then the American

colonial authorities.


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Second, these landlords havealready profited immensely

through the labor of generations ofpeasants. Herein lies the basic flawof CARP and CARPER, which

provided compensation to thelandlords, thereby negating theaforementioned historical truths.


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Compensation limited the capacityof the government to distribute

land and gave the landlords thepower to dictate the price ofcompensation and eventually take

back the land from peasants whoare unable to pay the amortizationbecause of the backwardness of

agricultural production in thecountry.


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The task is to cover one millionhectares in the next five years. By

2010, the department should be ableto distribute 200,000 hectares ofland.

The CARPER also mandates that privateagricultural lands the type that theArroyos and the Cojuangcos own canonly be distributed if the original CARPmanaged to distribute 90 percent of itstarget. But CARP, despite the two decadesof its implementation, only distributed lessthan half of its target.


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Lands covered by CARPER will beacquired and distributed in three

phases. Phase One will cover rice and corn lands,

all idle lands or abandoned lands, allprivate lands voluntarily offered by theowners for agrarian reform, all landsforeclosed by government financialinstitutions, all lands acquired by thePresidential Commission on GoodGovernment, and all other lands owned bygovernment devoted to or suitable foragriculture.


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Phase Two will cover all alienable anddisposable public agricultural lands; all

arable public agricultural lands underagro-forest, pasture and agriculturalleases already cultivated and planted

to crops in accordance with Section 6Article XIII of the Constitution; allpublic agricultural lands that are to beopened for new development and

resettlement; all private agriculturallands in excess of 50 hectares.


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Phase Three will cover all other

private agricultural lands startingwith large landholdings and thenmedium and small landholdings.


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Based on its past performance,however, the government seems

not only unable to do what itpreaches but more alarmingly hasshown itself incapable of freeing

the peasant masses fromcenturies-old feudal bondage oreven improve the tenant-

beneficiaries productivity.


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Amid what critics said are theflaws and the emasculation of

CARP, government may claim thatland may have been given to manyfarmers. But the vast majority of

land toilers remain poor forcingeven many of what governmenthad identified as tenant-beneficiaries to sell, mortgage or

abandon their lands.


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In an ironic twist of fate, studiesshow that CARP lands have beengradually turned over back to thelandlords.


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The departments latest CARP impactassessment study compared poverty

incidence in rural areas between1990 and 2000 and, in the sameperiod, between agrarian reformbeneficiaries (ARBs) and non-ARBs.

Poverty incidence among ARBs wentdown from 47.6 percent in 1990 to45.2 percent in 2000, showing

positive impact of CARP on farmer-beneficiaries.


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It looks like however thatwhatever improvements had been

made on the living standards ofARBs compared to non-ARBs, havenot influenced the general

economic condition in thecountryside as the incidence ofpoverty nationwide seemed to

have even risen.


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In Tarlac province, about 100 kms northof Manila, Hacienda Luisita was oncetouted as a showcase of the land reformprogram. Here, however, CARP hasfailed to win the hearts and minds of

farmers: In recent random interviews,they told Bulatlat.com that their liveshave been ruined further because ofCARP. Luisita is owned by the family of

former President Corazon CojuangcoAquino.


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One of the workers, FranciscoNakpil, is an agricultural worker inthe sugarcane plantation ofHacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) for 45years. When the stock distribution

options (SDO) scheme under CARPwas introduced in the hacienda in1989, Nakpil became one of the

7,000 workers who became instantstockholders of the agro-corporation.


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Within 30 years under thisscheme, hacienda owners were to

transfer 32 percent of the totalstocks of the company to the farmworkers.

Yet, has Nakpil become richerthrough the land reform program?


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Today at 62, Nakpil says he has only ahome lot souvenir from the HLI, a

P20,000 separation pay, and someP2,600 monthly pension from the SocialSecurity System. His retirement ended

his profit share from the HLI. He doesnot have land to pass on to his children.His monthly pension gave him just P86 aday that can hardly meet his familys

needs. And so his answer in Filipino: I am

poor, past and present.


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Danilo Ramos, secretary general of the militantKilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP PeasantMovement in the Philippines), offered his own

assessment of CARP. He said: Pagkatapos ng CARPextension period, naibenta na ulit ng mgabenepisyaryo ang lupa sa mayayaman dahil walanamang pag-asang umunlad ang kabuhayan ng

magsasaka sa taas naman ng gastos saproduksyon. Wala namang suportang pautang at ibapang serbisyo ang gobyerno kaya magigipit uli angbenepisyaryo, mababaon sa utang, mapipilitang

ibenta ang lupa


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Ramos argues that the root of thisflawed land reform program is in

the very concept of compensatingthe landlords and making thefarmers pay for the lands. Nasaan

naman doon ang katarungan? Angnaging papel lang ng gobyerno saprogramang ito ay ang pagiging

middleman sa bentahan ng lupa sapagitan ng may-ari at ngmagsasaka. Reporma ba yun?


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If I were to ask you, do you thinkCARP will already attain itsobjective/purpose of distributingland to landless farmers and farm

workers now that it has beenextended up to 2014?

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Agrarian Reform Issues

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