'land ownership' Politics

Johny Torun (63.176.159.0) - 11/29/08 11:21

This is a good topic, but to narrow down this broad topic, let me talk about how the government through programs (like the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law) implement this and how farmers are actually benefiting from such law and program?

Let me quote this here:

"The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)

January 6th, 2008 | What's behind?

By Neil Jerome C. Morales

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) was a land reform law mandated by Republic Act No. 6657, signed by President Corazon Aquino on June 10, 1988. It was the fifth land reform law in fifty years, following the land reform laws of Presidents Manuel Quezon, Ramon Magsaysay, Diosdado Macapagal and Ferdinand Marcos.

According to RA 6657, CARP aims “for a more equitable distribution and ownership of land.” It meant to distribute lands to farmers in a span of 10 years, but was extended by the 11th Congress due to delays in land distribution and lack of budget allocation.

Section 3 of RA 6657 defined agrarian reform as the “redistribution of lands, regardless of crops or fruits produced, to farmers and regular farm workers who are landless” and “all other arrangements alternative to the physical redistribution of lands, such as production or profit-sharing, labor administration and the distribution of shares of stock which will allow beneficiaries to receive a just share of the fruits of the lands they work.”

Vast agricultural lands are distributed to the farmers tilling the land, whereas only a maximum of five hectares can be retained by the landlords, and three hectares for each of their children.

However, a common CARP loophole was that landlords escaped relinquishing their lands through land reclassifications. Lands classified by local zoning ordinances as residential, commercial and industrial lands are excluded from CARP.

SOURCE:

Department of Agrarian Reform website, http://www.dar.gov.ph"

Comment #1 Gerry Balbona (63.176.159.32) - 06/16/09 12:49

That is why it is still a Program, because there are land owners sitting in congress and they are stopping the progress of this program from becoming a law. What is sad that instead of these congressmen giving back to the hardworking farmers and their fellowmen, they rather use the law and technical matters to deceive and evade the implementation of such programs. This is one of the rotten and used up dirty politics that is still being used by politicians in the Philippines.

Comment #2 moy (63.176.159.115) - 08/27/09 21:27

It seems to me that politicians are the same in every part of the world. What separates them is the level of similarity. If politicians continue sitting on the power to draft and make laws, then their beneficiaries(the so called electorate)will continue standing to lose.

It is the norm to get into leadership circles and have a turn around in terms of principles. Is this program ever going to see the light of day? Can President Aroyo turn things around?

Comment #3 Cesar Miniao (125.60.241.251) - 09/12/09 00:49

Philippine laws on land ownership sucks!!!... That's why Rebels cannot be defeated and conflicts in Mindanao can't be resolved is because the rich families who owns the lands don't want to give out the lands to the farmers who worked hard for so many years on those lands... That's why there are still lots of poor people in the country is because the laws are only for the rich.. If you are poor you'll be labeled "squatters" and they can demolish your house if they want to, even if the government has projects on a certain land, they will just demolish the houses of poor people and won't even pay the right amount the the house owners deserve to get!!!... In the US farmers are rich, they farm a vast size of land, in the Philippines if you are a farmer, you are poor and your farming a land that you don't even own, , and all the profit goes to the owners of the land.

So unless the distribution of wealth and a proper land ownership laws will be implemented, Philippines will still suffer poverty and misery...

Comment #4 cespeta (63.176.159.38) - 09/20/09 19:19

I deem to agree about that issue of land reform in the Philippines. I know that there is no genuine land reform being implemented in this land as of the moment.

Comment #5 fab (63.176.159.38) - 11/22/09 04:55

I'm agree with moy the same happens in every where. In Perú people still waiting for some changes but the goverment has done nothing.

We thought The president Alan Garcia could do a better job after his not so memorable first term of office which by the way was one of the worst goverment Peru has have.

You will find some numbers saying that the poverty has been cut 5 % but the reality is other.

Comment #6 Wally (63.176.159.88) - 01/09/10 10:01

That is the sad part of Politics fab, those who are in power and position will not let us know what is the real score and data regarding a certain matter.

But I have to say that people should become more observant on what is happening in their country. This way they will know if there are any anomalies happening.

Have a good day everyone and keep those post coming.

Comment #7 Kasi (63.176.159.211) - 02/02/10 09:07

No real information is really circulating in the respect to alot of the matters at hand and I am not very aware of much due to this. Politics will always have it's skeletons and drama that's just a part of the package.

Comment #8 Lorna Suarez (59.100.89.243) - 02/06/10 21:46

"Land ownership"

To Cesar Miniao:

Your comment does not make sense. While you recognise the importance of farm sizes to be economically viable, you also want existing big farms to be subdivided/redistributed to individuals.

What is happening in the agrarian reform, beneficiaries are selling their lands even before the 10 year requirement, because lands are too small and they have to experience starvation before a miniscule harvest. I have seen it too many times.

Agrarian reform is not the solution to the farmers' economic hardship. What should be done is improve the pay of farm workers/employees and make farm tenancy illegal. If land owners want to cultivate their land, then they must pay a legally determined rate to workers. If they think they cannot afford to pay workers, then the government should decide on what course of action to take to make the land productive. The problem is lazy and useless government departments do not care what is happening on the ground and workers remain very poor because they do not get a decent wage.

The agrarian reform program is so stupid and just causing chaos.

If you are referring to the "Rebels" as the NPA's, let me tell you that those who join them are just lazy thugs who extort money from people who sweat for a living. They even collect money from the poor merchants in the villages. They terrorise people and so deserve to be treated as terrorists.

Comment #9 Sammy (109.111.97.144) - 03/02/10 08:29

I have to agree on that Lorna, you certainly have a great point there. I also believes that those who joins the NPA do not have dreams and just wants to get things and stuffs from those poor people wherever they go. Their organization has nothing to do with the agrarian problems in the country, they just want to benefit from what others work hard for, they are leeches and parasites.

Comment #10 COIN-OPERATED-BOY from Philippines - 03/02/10 09:33

"Cojuangco-Aquino Clan are LAND GRABBERS"

I have no faith in this CARP anymore. It's been years since it has been signed but the results are all minimal.

All the agrarian reforms introduced during the Aquino administration are all bluffs, show-off acts to cover their own land-grabbing history.

I'm talking of the Hacienda Luisita. The Conjuangcos acquired Hacienda Luisita with the help of the government in the condition that the lands will be distributed to small farmers within 10 years. Acquired in 1957, deadline should have been 1967. But until now, the Conjuangcos are are holding tight on Luisita claiming it their own, simply because the 1967 deadline expired without litigation.

Kapal ng mukha!

The money used to purchase Hacienda Luisita came from the Filipino people and so it is right to give the land back to them. But no, they have the nerve to claim it as their own.

In 1980, Marcos filed cases against the Conjuangcos and Aquinos, and asked them to surrender the land so it will be distributed to the people by the government itself. Instead, the Aquinos called the case "harassment" since it is widely known that they are the greatest rival of the Marcoses.

Then the Mendiola Massacre happened after farmers gathered near Malacañang pressuring the government to give the lands as promised when Cory was running for president. Iin the turn of events, the farmers were violently dispersed and a lot of them died.

The massacre pressured the Aquino government to pass the land reform law. Land distribution now includes sugar plantations, such as Hacienda Luisita. Cory used this reason to DISMISS the case filed by the Marcoses against the Aquinos, reasoning that the lands will be distributed anyway and such case will just deter the process of distribution.

Long story short, the Aquinos are now free from legal woes regarding Luisita. Brilliant. Cory used the power of the presidency to control the land reform laws and maintain their hold on Hacienda Luisita.

Hacienda Luisita was then opened for SDO (Stock Distribution Option), which will give farmers shares of stocks instead of land. This very move, with then Pres. Cory Aquino at the helm, completely shows how they want to stay in control of Luisita. The stocks were a coy as well. It was not given to the farmers in full, instead it will be distributed for 30 years, wchi will end in 2019. Up to now, Luisita farmers has yet to receive their stock shares.

Geez. There's a lot of things I'd like to say about Hacienda Luisita, (the luisita massacre and all), kaso nawawalan na ako ng gana. Sobrang tagal ng dapat nasa kamay ng mga magsasaka yung lupa eh, hanggang ngayon inaa-ari pa rin ng mga lintek na mga linta na yan.

So kung iboboto niyo si Noynoy Aquino o kaya si Gibo Teodoro, mag-isip isip kayo, pag nanalo yang mag pinsan na yan baka lalong di na maipamigay yung HL.

• COJUANGCO FAMILY TREE

Comment #11 Kristy May Sandejas from Philippines - 03/03/10 04:17

"The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)"

CARP? Pwe! Leche yang CARP na yan, pinapa asa lang ang mga maliliit na magsasaka. Nagkakanda utang na yung magsasaka sa kakaloan sa bangko thinking na makakabayad sila using the land as collateral. But no, wala silang nakukuha ang nangyayari tuloy nababaon sa utang.

I agree with COIN OPERATED BOY, the Aquino - Conjuangco clan are land grabbers. Supposedly they are the ones supporting the CARP and showing good example as their matriarch is the one who passed it. But no, sila pa yung nangunguha ng lupa. Instead of distributing the land, they are keeping it for themselves.

Mga hayok sa pera! Mga gahaman!

Former president Cory Aquino, wife of the late senator Ninoy Aquino and daughter of North Luzon landlord, used her position to maintain her family's hold on Hacienda Luisita. She fooled the public by making the people believe she is against the landlord system of the Philippines back then, that's why she pass the CARP. Crap!

When Cory died last year, even the New York Times did not let their last chance pass to scrutinize the lady president. “Born into one of the country’s wealthy land-owning families, the Cojuangcos of Tarlac, Mrs. Aquino did not lead the social revolution that some had hoped for. She failed to institute effective land reform or to address the country’s fundamental structural ailment, the oligarchic control of power and politics."

Many were made to believe that when the dictatorship of the Marcoses ended, life in the Philippines will be better. Not. Lalong nag-hirap ang Pinas. For some reason, Cory did not accept the World Bank's offer to scrape the Philippines off of its debts acquired during the previous government. Probably to show the world that she is tough and that she can making things right even without the help of others.

Mahabaging Ginoo! Sumalangit nawa ang kanyang kaluluwa.

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