“A land reform program is not a solution in itself. But a beginning, a crucial step toward the broader goal of human development.” – Raúl Prebisch
“I promised our countrymen we will continue the Agrarian Reform Program. I am here today to build on that promise because our countrymen deserve nothing less,” the President was quoted when he signed RA 19953 last year. The law condones all loans including interests and land amortization of legitimate agrarian reform beneficiaries of all preceding land reform laws.
In gist, the law stands to benefit more than 600,000 ARBs with a budget of almost P58 billion covering almost 1.2M hectares of land. Indeed, social justice awaiting implementation. But the question is: What is now the status of the law? After one year, only the IRR is done, paving the way for its seamless and full implementation. Honestly, its implementation is slow and in the Philippines this comes as no surprise.
LOOMING CONSEQUENCES
The delay poses certain implications to agriculture and the economy in general. And its connectivity to other sectors can create possible mishaps such as productivity, market and income both domestically and internationally. The comparative disadvantage of our productivity and competitiveness in relation to supply chain will lag even more behind because of the uncertainty among farmers and other stakeholders.
Domestically, the small agrarian reform beneficiaries will be beset with confusion, whether they will continue to take responsibilities over their land’s amortization and taxation which comprise a significant portion of their income. Their income utilization is affected without clear orientation but only taking cue from the policy statement issued by the President because of the absence of information dissemination or the lack of it.
The dynamics or the pattern of their socioeconomics will be unstable, especially those ARBs whose primary source of livelihood is derived from the productive land under the agrarian reform program. Negros is a case in point for sugarcane production where agrarian reform communities are highly dependent on sugarcane as a major crop.
Also, it may prolong “resistance” from land owners, which is still a major challenge for the government’s implementing agency that usually results in social tensions and conflicts over land rights emanating from legal battles. Small farmers and farmworkers whose only aspiration is to own land become frustrated and disillusioned with these conflicts end up in violence as manifested at the height of the land reform program in the late 1990’s.
GOVERNMENT’S ADDED CHALLENGE
Moreover, implementation delays create psychological impacts among ARBs, whether to maximize productivity of land or not, since income and loans accessed are not fully utilized solely for productivity and some are devoted to legal obligations. This affects productivity with a domino effect pattern because less production would mean less market provision vis-à-vis the demand such as sugarcane. This means less income and less fulfillment of their basic needs especially for children.
From another perspective, this defeats one of the main purposes of the law, which is food security, either directly derived from production or from income. Also, this lessens the pursuit for crop diversification that serves two goals – food security and alternative income.
The prolonged delay can also result in the loss of trust and confidence among beneficiaries in the government’s implementing agency, including their policies contradicting the very own policy statement of the President pertaining to the same. Over-all, this impacts the economic and political momentum started by the administration seen detrimental to the continuity of the country’s development program, particularly on agriculture.
Reviewing the proposed budget for 2025 of the agriculture and agrarian reform departments the 58 billion needed budget is nowhere in priorities for both government agencies which brings more doubts to the realization of this crucial social justice law. We hope that before the final deliberations and approval of the 2025 budget, the President before signing, will be reminded of this law as his legacy.
PUSH TO THE LIMIT
Finally, the history of the agrarian reform laws in the country was born out of struggle. It is thus a major challenge for the ARBs, land reform advocates and other stakeholders to remind the President and the government in general in all possible legal avenues and platforms that it is crucial and urgent. It is not only the realization of the marginalized farmers’ dream of social justice, but more importantly it is a major economic driver where our agricultural productivity and competitiveness is at stake where modernization comes inseparably.*
