Comprehensive Agrarian Reform

Program (CARP)
 What is CARP?

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) was introduced almost

three decades ago with the approval of Republic Act (RA) 6657, also known as
the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) of 1988. It is the redistribution of
private and public agricultural lands to help the beneficiaries survive as small
independent farmers, regardless of the “tenurial” arrangement. Its goals are to
provide landowners equality in terms of income and opportunities, empower land
owner beneficiaries to have equitable land ownership, enhance agricultural
production and productivity, provide employment to more agricultural workers, and
put an end to conflicts regarding land ownership.
Moreover, the coverage of CARP was expanded from primarily rice and corn lands
to all agricultural lands; target beneficiaries include both tenants and farmworkers;
and the retention limits on landownership of agricultural lands were set at a lower
landownership ceiling of 5 ha. Furthermore, support services to agrarian reform
beneficiaries (ARBs) were made an integral component of CARP.
To date, CARP has been implemented for more than 30 years claiming land distribution
accomplishment of over 4.8 million ha of private and nonprivate agricultural land,
benefitting about 2.8 million ARBs. The reformed area covers 70 percent of estimated
total non-owner-cultivated agriculture land in the Philippines, benefitting about 54
percent of agriculture households in the country. Moreover, it has supported the
distribution of about 2.5 million ha of public A&D lands and issuance of stewardship
rights to forest lands and leasehold rights to agricultural lands not covered by land
reform.
 Who are the beneficiaries?
As stated in DAR Administrative Order (AO) 09, series of 2011, the basic qualifications of farmers/tillers
to be qualified as CARP beneficiary are as follows:
(1) Landless as defined by RA 6657
(2) Filipino citizen
(3) Permanent resident of the barangay and/or municipality where the landholding is located
(4) At least 15 years of age at the time of identification, screening, and selection
(5) Willing, able, and equipped with the aptitude to cultivate and make the land productive
RA 6657 lists down qualified CARP beneficiaries in this order of priority: (1) agricultural lessees and
share tenants; (2) regular farmworkers; (3) seasonal farmworkers; (4) other farmworkers; (5) actual
tillers/occupants of public lands; (6) collectives/cooperatives of the above beneficiaries; and (7) others
directly working on the land. RA 6657 also provides that the BARC and the DAR should assist the
potential CARP beneficiaries in listing or registration as potential beneficiaries.
 CARP under Duterte Administration (2016 – present) 
• Under his leadership, the President wants to pursue an “aggressive” land reform program that
would help alleviate the life of poor Filipino farmers by prioritizing the provision of support services
alongside land distribution.
• The President directed the DAR to launch the 2nd phase of agrarian reform where landless farmers
would be awarded with undistributed lands under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
(CARP).
• Duterte plans to place almost all public lands, including military reserves, under agrarian reform.
• The President also placed 400 hectares of agricultural lands in Boracay under CARP.
• Under his administration the DAR created an anti-corruption task force to investigate and handle
reports on alleged anomalous activities by officials and employees of the department.
• The Department also pursues an “Oplan Zero Backlog” in the resolution of cases in relation to
agrarian justice delivery of the agrarian reform program to fast-track the implementation of CARP.
 Agrarian reform in the Duterte administration

The evaluation of the current land acquisition and distribution (LAD) record under the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) must be viewed in context, to see the true picture of CARP in this
administration.
Previous administrations boast of high LAD performance simply because CARP during the earlier periods
focused on alienable and disposable lands of the public domain (A&D lands), and unused agricultural
government-owned lands (GOLs). These types of lands subjected to CARP were unopposed. Private
agricultural lands (PALs) occupy the last rung in the implementation ladder. PALs are difficult to cover
under CARP due to the resistance of landowners. The challenges from landowners have the net effect of
dragging, if not altogether halting, CARP implementation.
Republic Act No. 9700 (CARP Extension with Reforms or Carper) sets June 30, 2014, as the deadline for the
issuance of the notice of coverage (NOC), which is the first legal step in the LAD activity. Congress wanted
to complete LAD by 2014, subject to a master plan to be formulated by the Presidential Agrarian Reform
Council (PARC). It did not come to fruition because no plan was formulated. PARC was in hiatus for 10 years
(2006 to 2016) when the Carper deadline took effect.
President Duterte reactivated the PARC on Sept. 12, 2016. The PARC immediately revoked stock distribution
option plans and agribusiness venture arrangements, which ran counter to the provisions of agrarian reform
laws.
Aware of the restrictions imposed by the Carper deadline, the President issued Executive Order No. 75, Series of
2019, to cover unused GOLs, thus making available at least 300,000 hectares to our landless farmers and
farmworkers. The inventory includes the Yulo King Ranch or YKR in Busuanga, Coron in Palawan (8,000 hectares),
the Davao Penal Colony or Dapecol in Davao del Norte (5,000 hectares) and the Aurora State College of
Technology or Ascot in Baler, Aurora (110 hectares).
The President mandated the DAR to parcelize all collective Cloas, and provided funding for this parcelization
through the use of government and international funding facilities. He also directed the DAR to complete the
LAD process by 2022.
The President is focusing on the distribution of Cloas to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) nationwide.
Agrarian reform cooperatives and the unbanked segment of the ARBs have increased credit access through the
Land Bank of the Philippines.
The Duterte administration is heir to an agrarian reform program with several
shortcomings. While it is a fact that 4.8 million hectares of agricultural lands have been
distributed to 2.7 million ARBs, there is still a lack of sufficient support services to ARBs and
their dependents. The lack of support services is the proximate cause why ARBs engage in
illegal sales or lease transactions.
The CARP in the Philippine setting has a mixed record. We have successful agrarian reform
cooperatives. Inversely, there are ARBs who are still waiting to be installed despite the fact
that Cloas have been issued to them. We have ARBs in possession of their awarded titles
who have been removed from what they already own through violent means.

- As of October 15, 2019

 DAR to prioritize CARP in proposed P8.4-B budget
The Department of Agrarian reform will continue to support the beneficiaries of the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and sustain the improvement of the agriculture sector in 2020, its top
official said Thursday.
In a statement, Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones justified his department's proposed budget,
citing Executive Order No. 75, which “places under the coverage of the CARP all idle government-owned
agricultural lands".
"From 1972 to June this year, around 4.8 million hectares of agricultural lands, 2.7 million hectares of
which are privately owned, have already been distributed to some 2.87 million agrarian reform
beneficiaries," he said.
The Senate, on Wednesday, approved the PHP8.426-billion proposed budget by DAR for 2020.
Castriciones also said there are still 544,327 hectares of land up for distribution.
"Of that number, 504,362 hectares (92.66 percent) are privately owned lands, a seemingly huge task due
to the strong resistance from landowners," he said.
Castriciones said DAR is confident that it could carry out President Rodrigo Duterte’s marching order of
finishing the land acquisition and distribution on or before the end of his term in 2022.
DAR spokesperson, Cleon Lester Chavez, said the 2020 budget will be allotted
to various program components of the CARP such as Land Tenure Services,
Agrarian Justice Delivery, Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development
Services, Operations, and the rest are allotted to General Administration and
Support and Support to Operations.

- As of November 14, 2019

 Issues on Land Conversion in the Philippines

Gov’t to prohibit conversion of agricultural lands for 2 years (September, 2016)

Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano said the government is set
to impose an order that will prohibit the conversion of agricultural lands for two years.
Mariano said this will immediately protect more than 4.7 million hectares of agricultural
land that have already been awarded to farmer beneficiaries.
The moratorium was among the resolutions taken up during the PARC’s meeting on
Monday. Led by Duterte, the meeting was the first time the PARC was convened in 10
years.
He also urged lawmakers to pass a new agrarian reform law since CARP expired in
2014.
DAR to further streamline process in land conversion (February, 2019)

The Department of Agrarian Reform will be making changes to further streamline

the distribution of land titles and the process of land conversion after President
Rodrigo Duterte’s recent “outburst” over reported delays.
The agency confirmed a task force was formed to further expedite the process of
converting agricultural lands for residential, commercial, and industrial use, and
submit a report on the anomalies in the conversion process.
DAR Undersecretary for Legal Affairs said the agency has a backlog of 73 cases
pending for conversion. He also clarified that the conversion process will be
revoked for parcels of land that go beyond 5 years without being developed for
residential or commercial use.
Among the pending cases, it would be resolved if those applying for the
conversion complied with all the necessary requirements.
It was only in 2009 when the government eased rules and farmer-beneficiaries did
not have to wait until they have paid off their 30-year amortization to apply for
land conversion, making the process faster.
However, due to the numerous requirements farmers had to go through, there
remains to be hurdle.
To prevent further delays, once all the requirements needed from other
government agencies are already cleared, DAR itself only has 30 days to either
deny or grant the conversion of land.
With most of the country’s land still considered for agricultural use, the agency
clarified that it is not pro-conversion. But it will still have to study and consider
some parcels of land for conversion, as part of the President’s instructions.
Bill stopping agri land conversion filed (August, 2019)
Sen. Francis Pangilinan has filed Senate Bill 256 or the Agricultural Land
Conversion Ban Act which seeks to put a stop on the transformation of farm
lands into other uses.
Since the agrarian reform was implemented in 1988 up to 2016, almost
100,000 hectares of agricultural lands, equivalent to the combined size of
Metro Manila and Cebu City, have not produced food.
Data showed that Luzon suffers most from massive land conversion, making
up 80.6 percent of the entire country’s approved land conversions. This is
followed by Mindanao with 11.6 percent and Visayas with 7.8 percent.
The bill seeks to amend Section 20 of the Local Gov’t Code, requiring
additional approval from the departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reform,
and Environment and Natural Resources, as well as LGUs before land
reclassification and conversion.
Under the bill, conversion of agricultural lands requires certification from DA
indicating that such lands are not included among those classified for
conversion or reclassification and that the land has ceased to be economically
feasible for agricultural purposes.
 The Plight of Farmers in the Philippines

Today, there are 10 million rice farmers in the Philippines. Extrapolating their
number of dependents, they constitute a big portion of the over 100 million
Filipinos today, and they are in trouble.
Not much of their land can be reached by irrigation facilities and rain has not been
heavy on lands depending on rain for water.
On the other hand, the rice tariffication law, recently passed but lacking yet in
publicized IRR (implementing rules and regulations) is a good law. It thinks
primarily about food security for 100 million Filipinos rather than just protecting
the parochial needs of some 10 million Filipino rice farmers.
For decades, in the name of “protecting” the farmers, rice importation was limited
by quota restrictions. There was tons of money to be made, reportedly by
bureaucrats who approved the import allocation, the traders who cornered the
importation permits and which allegedly acted as a “cartel” in order to dictate
market prices. And, of course, there were the smugglers-scarcity being the mother
of smuggling.
Divine intervention came last year when these market aberrations resulted in a
price supply deficit and prices of rice went to the roof-hiking inflation rate and
negatively affecting the gross domestic product. The government was shocked
and, thus, the RTL was born.
Today, the full effect of the law has not yet been felt generally by retail consumers
because as Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar said “although some 2.5 million
tons of rice have already been imported up to August,” the traders are withholding
their market entry in order to command higher prices.
The average production cost of palay is at P12 per kilo. People from the mountains
in other rice-growing parts of the country say some greedy wholesalers there are
buying farm-gate palay at only P8 per kilo stealthily citing what is happening in
some parts of Luzon.
But Agriculture Committee Senate Chairman Sen. Cynthia A. Villar debunked the
case explaining that those being sold at P8 per kilo in Luzon were those that have
been severely damaged by the typhoon rain causing unwanted moisture.
Buying palay at P8 per kilo will certainly kill the poor farmer, who is forced to agree
to this confiscatory price just to be able to pay for the children’s schooling, have
food money for the family and buy the seeds for the next planting.
Can one-fathom cruelty as offensive as this? There are those who pretend to
“help” the farmers in need but the financial arrangement is such that in the
medium term, the poor farmer will be so much buried in obligations that he is
forced to give up his land as payment.
We have heard of those who are now landed “oligarchs” precisely by “helping”
farmers this way.
LGUs should start buying palay at P20 per kilo (average) to stop these greedy
traders.
Dar said LGUs, after all, are autonomous and mere resolution of their local
legislative bodies can authorize the LGU officials to borrow from LandBank and
buy palay from farmers at P15 to P17 per kilo (above production cost) and certainly
way above the “criminal” rate of P8 per kilo.
It is important the government acts with dispatch because the so-called Rice
Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) of P10 billion will still be
implemented only in the 2020 budget of the DA.
The P10-billion funds to be distributed to the aggrieved farmers are without
interest for six years but their usage is limited to just seed distribution and
machinery. What about working capital?
After helping the farmers from the above, will be RTL benefit the rice-eating
populace of over 100 million Filipinos? Yes, but not yet perfectly now.
The government buying palay priced at P20 to P22 per kilo for now, therefore,
would be of big help. With retail price currently at P38 per kilo, there are enough
margins to be shared among the trader, retailer and even the government to pay
for LandBank’s interest.
The point is that government must have the correct moral posture-of placing its
heart nearest the interest of the poorest sectors of society, which include our
millions of rice-industry dependent Filipinos.