Sponsorship Speech for the Agrarian Reform Commission Bill

Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao delivered this sponsorship speech during the 06 August 2014 hearing of the Committee on Agrarian Reform for the initial consideration of House Bill No. 4375 (Agrarian Reform Commission Bill), which she authored with Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo.

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

In 1988, then President Corazon Aquino enacted Republic Act No. 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law to implement the Constitutional mandate of just distribution of land to the landless.  In 1998, Congress enacted Republic Act No. 8532, which augmented the budget for another 10 years.  A decade after that, in 2008, Republic Act No. 9700 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law Extension with Reforms was enacted in order to strengthen and reform CARP.  Last June 30 of this year, the period provided by the CARPER Law which limits the issuance of NOCs has already expired.  

Ginoong Chair, mga kasama-- dalawa’t kalahating dekada nang umiral ang Agrarian Reform Program. Sa kasamaang palad, libu-libong magsasaka ang hindi pa rin nagmamay-ari ng lupang kanilang tinatamnan at inaanihan. 

The DAR estimates that about 500,000 hectares out of the LAD balance of about 1,200,000 hectares as of June 2009 are still to be distributed.  Moreover, at least 500,000 hectares of VLT plus leased-back lands and lands under collective CLOAs claimed as having been distributed are suspect to having circumvented or avoided the law and/or were not really distributed nor transferred to the control of farmer beneficiaries. These lands if left undistributed would constitute a mockery of the constitutional provision on agrarian reform and would reward the very people who have violated and defied the law.

It is this primary reason, my dear colleagues, that the urgent passage of this bill is earnestly sought. It is very crucial at this time that an independent Agrarian Reform Commission with legal powers of subpoena and of contempt which shall review the actual accomplishments of CARP and CARPER, be immediately enacted.  Moreover, this bill, which I authored with Congresswoman Leni Robredo, mandates the formation of the said body in order to investigate circumventions and violations of the law which prevents land to be compulsorily acquired and distributed to qualified beneficiaries.

Some of you may ask why Congress should enact a parallel law on agrarian reform, a program which has not, up to now, been fully and effectively implemented.  The answer, ladies and gentlemen, is because agrarian reform is about social justice, and social justice is the heart of our Constitution.  This bill intends to be part of the comprehensive set of solutions that seeks to correct centuries of injustice, oppression, and neglect of poor, landless Filipino farmers. 

Indeed, credible empirical studies show that CARP has resulted in significant improvements in the welfare of agrarian reform beneficiaries located in agricultural reform communities, with increased farmer household income and expenditures and decreased likelihood of being poor.  Estimates of the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) series shows that between 1998 and 2011, there is a greater increase in average per capita income among CARP households as compared to land-owning non-CARP households and the general population.  It is important to note that there is also a greater reduction in poverty incidence among CARP households.

Dahil sa mga nabanggit, malinaw na kailangan ng pamahalaan na sa wakas ay tuparin ang pangako ng repormang agraryo.

Sa nakaraang State of the Nation Address ni Pangulong Benigno Aquino III, binigyang diin niya ang kahalagahan ng agrarian reform at nangako siyang maisasakatuparan ang implementasyon ng batas bago matapos ang kanyang termino sa 2016. Sa katunayan, kamakailan lamang, mayroong nakahaing panukalang batas na naglalayong magbigay ng karagdagang dalawang taon para sa pag-issue ng mga Notice of Coverage sa mga lupaing dapat maisailalim sa CARP. ‘Certified as urgent’ na po ang panukalang ito. Kasama rin ito sa listahan ng priority bills ng Administrasyong Aquino.

Ang panukalang tatalakayin naman natin ngayon ay isang polisiya na naghahangad na iwasto ang mga pagkukulang ng CARP program, ituloy at tiyakin ang pamimigay ng lupang sakahan na nakatakda sa Saligang Batas, at makapagtatag ng isang plataporma upang maisakatuparan ang isang matagumpay na repormang agraryo—isang repormang tunay na magdudulot ng mahalaga at makabuluhang pagbabago para sa mga magsasakang Pilipino. 

Mr. Chair, my dear colleagues, we in Congress are now tasked to ensure the success of agrarian reform. Through this, let us initiate the radical social change that history tells us must happen if national solidarity, lasting peace, and real economic development are to be achieved. Para sa mga magsasaka. Para sa Pilipino. Para sa Bayan!

Magandang hapon at maraming salamat!