ADVERTISEMENT
News
Condoning farmers' debts from CARP, a worthy COVID-19 response—Recto
By DONA MAGSINO, GMA News Releasing Filipino farmers from the shackles of unpaid balances under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) would be a significant COVID-19 pandemic response, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said Friday.
"This is one COVID-response measure worth approving. If greater food production is what we should be doing to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic, then it is an incentive for those who feed us all," Recto said in a statement.
"Emancipation from debt is what they (farmers) also need," he added, noting that farmers shall be deemed as rightful owners of the lands awarded to them upon the effectivity of his proposed measure.
Last year, Recto filed Senate Bill No. 268 which seeks to condone all unpaid amortizations and interests, including penalties or surcharges due from loans secured under the CARP.
A bill containing a similar intention hurdled the third and final reading in the House of Representatives earlier this week.
ADVERTISEMENT
Aside from the expensive farm inputs that prevent many farmers from settling their loans, Recto pointed out that there is a low collection rate because the costly administrative expenses for the management of such receivables are not being met by the meager appropriations.
"There is a huge administrative cost in managing this important aspect of the agrarian reform program. In fact, in one study, the system to collect loan payments from CARP beneficiaries was not fully put in place due to the high costs required," he said.
He assured that landowners whose properties have been subjected to land distribution will still be paid despite the condonation for farmers' debts from CARP loans.
"Their right to be paid on time and based on the legal contracts will be honored and will not be impaired," Recto said.
CARP, the government's agrarian reform program, was enacted during the Cory Aquino administration in 1988 to distribute 7.8 million hectares of land in the country in a bid to alleviate poverty. The land distribution effort has since been extended and reached the Duterte administration three decades later.—AOL, GMA News