7-7-2023 (MANILA) President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed into law the New Agrarian Emancipation Act (NAEA), which is expected to relieve farmers of long-standing debts under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. The program aims to distribute land to tillers but not for free. The newly signed law will condone all unpaid amortizations, including interests and surcharges, for awarded lands. It is expected to benefit a total of 610,054 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) cultivating 1.173 million hectares of land across the country, amounting to P57.56 billion of unpaid amortizations. The government will also assume the obligation of ARBs for the payment of just compensation to landowners under the Voluntary Land Transfer or Direct Payment schemes, for the benefit of 10,201 ARBs with total payables of P206.5 million.
In line with his promise to continue the Agrarian Reform Program during his first SONA, President Marcos said that the law is for “social justice for our farmers.” He stressed that helping farmers goes beyond giving them lands to till, but to freeing them of debts. However, the president acknowledged that free land distribution is just the first step in genuine agrarian emancipation. He emphasized that the government needs to broaden the provision of credit facilities and support services in the form of farm inputs, equipment, and facilities to farmers, as well as the construction of more farm-to-market roads to yield more sustainable farms and higher income for farmers.
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program was a policy measure during the time of the late President Corazon Aquino. Its objective was to redistribute private and public agricultural lands to farmers to reinvigorate agriculture in the country. However, the farmers were not given the capital and support services needed to make the land profitable, leaving the sector worse for wear. Despite accounting for 10% of the country’s gross domestic product annually, farmers and fisherfolk are the two poorest sectors of Philippine society.
While some have welcomed the law, others, such as Sonny Africa, executive director at local nonprofit IBON Foundation, have called it a “belated and imperfect correction of a long-standing defect of agrarian reform in the country.” Africa also pointed out that the government should not be making a big deal out of “condoning” over P58 billion in arrears that it probably would not be able to collect anyway because farmers are kept so poor.
