By Aurea Calica
Saturday, October 18, 2008 [ philstar.com.ph ]
A consolidated Senate bill is seeking to extend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program for 10 years with a P147-billion fund, 40 percent of which will be allocated for support services to make sure the farmers would be able to develop their land.
Senate Bill 2666 also allows liberalized terms on credit facilities and production loans.
“For this purpose, all financing institutions may accept as collateral for loans any purchase order, marketing agreements or expected harvests, provided the money would be used in improvement of the land or enhance production and marketing of agricultural products,” the bill states.
The bill gives a period of four to six years to private landowners who may be covered by the program. It also says irrigated or irrigable lands cannot be subject to conversion.
The House of Representatives earlier said it would pass a bill that would extend CARP’s life for another five years. House Bill 4077 provides a P100-billion budget for the extended CARP. The program, which came into effect in 1988 and was extended for another 10 years in 1998, expired last June.
Under SB 2666, land will be acquired and distributed as follows:
Phase One: rice and corn land under Presidential Decree No. 27; all idle or abandoned land; all private land voluntarily offered by the owners for agrarian reform; all land foreclosed by government financial institutions; all land acquired by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG); and all other land owned by the government devoted to or suitable for agriculture, which will be acquired and distributed immediately upon the effectivity of this Act, with the implementation to be completed within a period of not more than four years on or before Dec. 31, 2010.
Phase Two: All alienable and disposable public agricultural land; all arable public agricultural land under agro-forest, pasture and agricultural leases already cultivated and planted to crops in accordance with Article XIII Section 6 of the Constitution; all public agricultural land which are to be opened for new development and resettlement; and all private agricultural land in excess of 50 hectares.
Phase Three: All other private agricultural land – (a) landholdings above 24 to 50 hectares, to begin on the fourth year from the effectivity of this Act or Jan. 11, 2011 and to be completed within three years on or before Dec. 31, 2012; (b) landholdings from the retention limit up to 24 hectares, to begin on the sixth year from the effectivity of this Act or Jan. 1, 2012 and to be completed within four years on or before Dec. 31, 2013.
SB 2666 substitutes for various bills and resolutions filed on the matter and was prepared by the Senate committees on agrarian reform, justice and human rights, finance, and social justice, welfare and rural development with Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Gregorio Honasan, Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Juan Ponce Enrile, Rodolfo Biazon, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. as authors.
