Task 2: Write a reaction paper on the following topics:

a. Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program

For a long period of time, Philippine land was owned by Private sectors. This started during the
Spanish regime when the land was primarily owned by the landlords and friars. The Philippine
farmers found it hard to acquire land during that time because the only basis for ownership is
ancestral domain ship. Agrarian rights were established during the American occupation, but
only few initiatives were given and the rich families still continue to own the Philippine land.

The first comprehensive agrarian reform order was attempted in the country in 1972. A month
after the martial law, president Marcos issued presidential Decree No.27 making the
Philippines a land reform nation.
This reform orders states that an individual cannot own more than seven hectares of land. The
remaining area will be given out in portions to individual tenants. The tenant may acquire a
maximum of three hectares of irrigated land or five hectares of unused land in exchange for
payment such as royalty taxes, etc. this reform was program was unpopular thus making it a
total failure.

On June 22, 1987, president Corazon Aquino outlined the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law
(CARL) through presidential Proclamation 131 and executive order 229. The Law was enacted
by the 8th congress of the Philippines and signed by former President Aquino on June 10, 1988.
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law is the basis of the Comprehensive agrarian reform
program (CARL) which was the centerpiece program of President Corazon Aquino’s
Administration. The program was said to have an underlying political motivation for it formed
one of the major points against Marcos during President Aquino’s Presidential campaign.

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 covers, regardless of tenurial arrangement
and crop produced, all public and private agricultural lands as provided in Proclamation No.
131 and Executive Order No. 229, including other lands of the public domain suitable for
agriculture. Originally, the total area of this coverage was calculated to be 10.3 million
hectares. The later CARP Scope Validation (CSV) however, has pegged the total program area
at 8, 169, 545 hectares. Of this total area 54 percent (4.4) million hectares) falls under the
responsibility of DAR while the reaming 46 percent (3.8 million hectares) comprises the DENR’s
jurisdiction.

The law designated that land acquisition and distribution are to be done in a
period of ten years following the effectivity of the law. Phase one covers rice and corn lands
under the Presidential Decree No. 27; all idle or abandoned lands; all privately-owned lands
voluntarily offered by the landowners for land reform; all lands foreclosed by government
financial institutions; all lands acquired by the Presidential Commission on Good Government
(PCGG); and all other lands owned by the government devoted to or suitable for agriculture
(RA 6657). Phase two covers all alienable and disposable public agricultural lands, all arable
public agricultural under agro-forest, pasture and agricultural leases that are cultivated and
planted to crops in accordance with Section 6, Article XIII of the Constitution; all public
agricultural lands in excess of fifty hectares. Phase three includes private agricultural
landholdings above 24 hectares up to 50 hectares; and landholdings from the retention limit
up to 24 hectares.
 Lands that are exempted from CARP are those with a slope of more than 18 percent; reserved
land such as forest reserves, watersheds, national parks, fish sanctuaries, church and mosque
sites, and cemeteries; and lands that are used for national defense, education and
experimental farms. The law also states that ancestral lands inhabited and used in a culturally
appropriate way by indigenous cultural communities will be protected and therefore would
not be distributed.

The essence of CARP is asset revaluation or redistribution of wealth that so that the landless farmers can
have access to capital resources in order to promote their welfare. Its aim is the equitable distribution
and ownership of land to the tiller and to provide opportunities for a dignified quality of life to the Agrarian
Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs). To accomplish this objectives, provisions were made for adequate support
services for rural development and economic size farms were established as the basis of Philippine
agriculture. The program was given a special fund of P50billion.

Even though the DAR and the DENR distributed a large number of lands, it didn’t reach the goal set in the
program. “twenty years later, the Governments land reform effort has woefully short of its goals- by some
1.3 million hectares of private farmland”. (facts not slogan, the business mirror) the distribution of land
to the tiller is below the expected target. It was not accomplished during the first term of CARP which was
10 years.

The government’s slowness in land transfer activities is because of the following factors:
 Lack of political will to implement agrarian reform 2.
 Manifest in Operational and legal bottleneck
 Blockage by a big land owner who have seats in Congress and posts in the Government estimated
by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) in 1987 was 221.09 billion to ensure the
program’s full implementation. However, only p100 billion was given under the law. The fund
provided was less than half of what is required.

There were numerous issues concerning the implementation of CARP. The biggest of which is the lack of
support services for the ARBs to ensure the productivity of the lands that were distributed to the farmers.
“then there is the matter of official commitment to the program – or rather, the lack of it. Frequently cited
is a study in Negros Occidental, which showed that 97 percent of agrarian-reform beneficiaries (ARBs)
have receive no government support services, that 41 percent of ARBs have either abandoned or sold the
rights to the land awarded to them under the CARP, that 98 percent of ARBs have not paid land taxes, etc.
Moreover, Negros Occidental has remained a hotbed of insurgent activity.

The poor implementation of the program is the reason why private agricultural lands remain
undistributed. A common carp loophole used by landowners to escape relinquishing their lands is through
the reclassification of their land into residential, commercial and industrial lands which are excluded from
CARP.

CONCLUSION

CARL is the most comprehensive agrarian reform law because it covers all private and public lands
and other lands suitable for agriculture regardless of tenurial agreement and crops produced. The law
also adopted various progressive provisions needed by small and marginal farmers to have equitable land.
Aside from transfer of ownership, it also provides access to support services to ensure that socio-
economic improvement to the program beneficiaries is achieve.
 In my opinion, the government focused only on distributing lands and not in the other objectives
that were stated in the law. As pointed out in the editorials which I’ve read. It’s not enough to own land
in order to become prosperous in agriculture.
A farmer needs the necessary equipment to harvest his crops and also knowledge in marketing in
order to sell his crops. A poor farmer even if given rights to own land, won’t be able to change financial
status because what is given to him is not enough. As for loopholes in the CARP, I hope the implementation
of the CARPer will resolve the problem concerning the evasion of redistributing of estates.
The revises CARPer should target the weakness of the old program and make sure that the
implementation would be better this time than the previous program. The Philippine is still far from
accomplishing agrarian reform even after 50 yaers. If they keep it up in this rate, it’ll take a very long time
to lift our Filipino farmers from poverty.

b. Philippine Taxation System

Taxation is defined in many ways commonly heard definitions include:

- It is the process by which the sovereign, through its law making body, races revenues use to defray
expenses of government.
- It is a means of government in increasing its revenue under the authority of the law, purposely
used to promote welfare and protection of its citizenry.
- It is the collection of the share of individual and organizational income by a government under
the authority of the law.
Taxation is the inherent power of the state to impose and demand contribution upon persons, properties
or rights for the purpose of generating revenues for public purpose.
The power of taxation upon necessity

Conclusion on Philippine taxation system

A good taxation system should provide an appropriate level of revenue on a timely basis,
distribute the cost of taxation fairly, promote economic growth and efficiency, be easily administered and
ensure accountability. People will avoid paying taxes if they feel that the taxes imposed are confiscatory
in nature and this in turn reduces the tax base. The inequity of the tax system negates the command of
the constitution. The endless complains of the middle class towards the strict tax collection drive of the
BIR may be lessened if they feel that their equity, or the rich is paying more taxes than them. the middle
class should not be burdened more than the higher class. The BIR collected 1.2 trillion for 2012 however
the government budget deficit still bloated from 197.8 billion in 2011 to P235 B.
The Philippines with the current taxation system, is always on budget deficit, and these years after
year deficits includes huge amount of money thus resulting to higher public debt that the taxpayers also
pay, with interest. It is time to change on how the government tax its people. Lowering the tax rate will
not necessarily mean that it will lessen the budget of the government. Lowering tax will increase the tax
base of the government and it will increase the cash flow in the economy, let the people decide where to
put their money. Whichever way they use it, it will be productive to the economy since they are spending,
when someone is spending another one is profiting and through profits Is where the government gets its
taxes. Unlike if taxes are corrupted and stored into secret bank accounts.

Recommendation
The taxation of the country needs a lot of reforms. The taxation system should be based on the taxpayer’s
ability to pay and should not be confiscatory in nature. Lowering the tax rate and increasing the tax bracket
ceiling will initially lower tax collection but will increase it by the next year of two because the tax base
will enlarge.

Directions: Answer the following adequately.

1. What happens if we do not follow market prices and the

government sets up its own price?
If this happens, and probably it might be in extreme cases, then
chaos will arise between merchants and government officials. In the
long run, businessmen will no longer invest in the country, jobs will
decline and unemployment will rise up. In time, chaos among
residents will follow. Hunger, poverty and death among large
number of people anywhere is possible.
We should always remember that no human government can sustain
its own economy without the influence and power of
investors. Hence, the power in giving a reasonable market prices
should be mutually agreed by investors and government, and
ASSESSMENT reasonably aligned from the current power of people to purchase
METHOD: products.
2. Why are some goods sold in small amounts (e.g. expensive foods)
that consuming it will not give consumers the satisfaction they
deserve?

3. Why do some businesses become capital intensive?

4. What do our oil companies mean when they claim to use

“competitive prices”?

5. What happens if the government spends a little and uses its tax
collection to pay its obligations?

6. What is the role of agrarian reform in the Philippine economy?