House panel OKs bill writing off unpaid amortization, tax dues of agrarian reform beneficiaries

The House agrarian reform panel on Wednesday approved a bill writing off unpaid amortization and other tax dues of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARB) from the land they got under the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

The panel, headed by Ifugao Repesentative Solomon Chungalao, approved the measure with only Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman registering opposition.

The proposed  "Act Emancipating ARBs from Financial Burden by Condoning Unpaid Amortization and Extending Estate Tax Amnesty on Agrarian Reform Land under the CARP" also prohibits ARBs from converting their CARP land to non-agricultural land within 10 years from the enactment of the measure.

House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto of Batangas, one of the authors of the measure, said this policy will increase the productivity of ARBs with financial resources through the condonation of their annual amortization and interests, including penalties or surcharges as well as reduce the administrative cost of implementing the agrarian reform program.

“Ultimately, it endeavors to achieve the original intent of the agrarian reform program: to improve the lives of farmers, reduce rural poverty and accelerate rural development. Such intervention is founded on the principles of the agrarian reform law, which seek to uphold the welfare of landless farmers and farmworkers with the goal of promoting social justice, sound rural development and industrialization,” Recto said in his explanatory note on the measure.

“To sustain the gains of the agrarian reform program, the swift passage of this measure is earnestly sought,” Recto added.

But for Lagman, the bill’s provision for a 10-year window preventing the conversion of the agricultural land under CARP is not enough since the proposal does not prevent the ARBs from using their land as mortgage when they try to secure a loan.

“Yes, we give freedom to our farmers, but we are not giving them freedom to lose their lands thru the forfeiture of mortgages and indebtedness in the succeeding years,” Lagman said during Wednesday’s hearing on the measure conducted by the House agrarian reform panel.

“This is social legislation. We are not looking at a parcel of land which is generic. We are giving the farmer a parcel of land that will sustain them, most probably, in perpetuity. If we capacitate them to mortgaging their land and they fail to pay, that would be the end for that ARB and the family,” Lagman added.

Lagman also said that the time before ARBs are allowed to convert their land to non-agricultural purposes should be as long as 30 years.

“[Otherwise], we are not emancipating them [from debts] but we are emancipating them to lose their land. I am suggesting 30 years, with the colatilla that it cannot be mortgaged. If not, it should be transferred to the government so it can give the land to other beneficiaries who would need it,” Lagman said.

“I have given my position and I will stick with my position. I would pursue this line of questioning in the plenary,” Lagman added.—LDF, GMA News