Reason and Concern

By Ronquillo C. Tolentino

CBCP: Extend CARP

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) shall expire on June l0 this year unless Congress shall pass an urgent bill for its extension.
Land reform, or if you will, the struggle for land reform in the Philippines had its inception earlier than l963. In l963, Republic Act 3844 (Agricultural Land Reform Code created the Land Authority. The law also reorganized some government agencies tasked with land reform. On September l0, l97l, Republic Act 6389 (Code of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines ) which mandated the establishment of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and replaced the Land Authority. In 1978, DAR was renamed the Ministry of Agrarian Reform. Close to a year and a half after EDSA 1, the Department of Agrarian Reform was organized structurally and functionally through President Aquino’s Executive Order No. l29-A.
But it was not until l988 when the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) was passed through Republic Act No 6657 which became the legal basis for the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. The CARP aimed to promote social justice and industrialization. RA 6657 provided for the mechanism for land reform implementation.
Even Marcos had firmly believed on the need for agrarian reform in this country when he announced in his stentorian voice the emancipation of the tenants from the bondage of the soil. Albeit land reform during the Marcos years left much to be desired, Marcos’ second was to proclaim the entire country by presidential decree as land reform area when he emphasized on the need to accelerate the agrarian reform program of the government for the early attainment of the objectives set forth in Republic Act 3844, as amended. A paragraph of Presidential Decree No 2 states, thus: “… among such objectives is to achieve dignified existence for the small farmers free from the pernicious institutional restraints and practices which have not only retarded the agricultural development of the country but have also produced widespread discontent and unrest among our farmers…”
On September 27, 2004, in an effort to broaden the scope of the department stressing its responsibility for all land reform in the country, inclusive of placing the Philippine Commission on Urban Poor under its supervision and control as well as their responsibility on the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples on the recognition of the ownership of ancestral domain by indigenous peoples, President Arroyo signed Executive Order No 364 renaming DAR to Department of Land Reform. On August 23,2005, through Executive Order No.456, Arroyo renamed the Department of Land Reform back to the Department of Agrarian Reform stating that the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law goes beyond just land reform but includes the totality of all factors and support services designed to lift the economic status of the beneficiaries.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, succinctly observed that the l.3 million hectares (1,077,598 hectares according to DAR estimate) that could be eligible for distribution to tenant-farmers were still beyond the coverage of CARP reckoned from the post-martial law years starting with the administration of President Corazon Aquino.
The CBCP wrote Congress for the extension of CARP beyond June l0, 2008 when it said : “ We are writing to manifest our appeal to the honorable members of Congress, the urgency of passing a bill to extend the (CARP) and institute progressive reforms that would truly benefit our poor farmers who remain landless”. (They are) barely able to eke out a decent living from one day to the next.”
“After 20 years, 1.3 million hectares of CARP-able lands remain undistributed, consisting mainly of large ‘haciendas of those who have been resisting CARP from its inception,” And poverty is still very much with us. Not because of CARP but because it has not been fully and properly implemented.”
In Aklan, through the progressive leadership of Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer II, Atty. Daniel Y. Martelino, the Department of Agrarian Reform Provincial Office has contributed P110-million worth of infrastructure and P165.70-million worth of farm-to-market roads for the province.
Another P49.97 million was allotted for irrigation projects. DAR-Aklan was able to distribute 20,441 hectares of land to 16, 294 farmers, built 25 farm-to-market roads spanning 68 kilometers and 11 irrigation projects serving 2,577 hectares of riceland. Very noteworthy is the construction of the Timbaban-Sipac Bridge in Madalag, Aklan, considered to be the biggest CARP infrastructure project in Western Visayas .
CARP should be here to stay. /MP