Not Another Sad Movie….

Looking back

It had been a decade since the struggles of the landless farmers take its roots and can even be counted from the time our land had been corruptibly invaded by the Spanish conquest who among others taught us the encomienda system. which was in effect what our Filipino ancestors had been practicing and implementing towards our own blood - the FILIPINO LANDLESS FARMERS.


The Saving Grace

And with the passage of RA 6657 commonly known as CARL, in 1988, it gave hope to our farmers that in time the land to which they till would become theirs at last. The passage of such law is based on the provision of the constitution on social justice which the constitution aptly stated in CALALANG vs. WILLIAM, that, Social Justice is neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy, but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the state so that Justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated. Social Justice means the promotion of the welfare of the people, the adoption by the government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the component elements of society through the maintenance of a proper economic and social equilibrium in the interpretation of the members of the community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through the exercise of power underlying the existence of all governments on the time honored principle of salus populi est suprema lex.

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (RAA 6657) gave flesh to the intent of the constitution and is a revolutionary piece of legislation that seeks to free the peasants from the bondage of the soil. And that such law is definitely enacted for very specific reason, that is, equitable distribution of agricultural resources. Thus, seeking to cure the unjust situation where vast areas of land all over the Philippines are owned by very few yet very influential families and individual.


The Hindering Factor

But said struggles of the farmers to have and benefit from the fruits of their labors were not easy for here comes the Supreme Court by virtue of their power to interpret the laws of the land, introduced various amendments of RA 6657 such as the promulgation of the LUZ FARM CASE, NATALIA REALTY CASE, and the FORTICH CASE as well as the enactment of Congress of RA 7881 and other anti- AR Bills.

What have we come so far…


As the supreme court concluded in its opinion in Association of Small Landowners in the Philippines Inc. vs. Secretary of Agrarian Reform

And I Quote:

“By the decision we reach today, all major legal obstacles to the CARP are removed, to clear the way for the true freedom of the farmer. We may now glimpse the day when he will be released not only from the his own feelings of inadequacy and helplessness. At last his servitude will be ended forever. At last the farm on which he tills will be his farm. It will be his portion of Mother Earth that will give him not only the staff of life but also the joy of living, and where once it bred for him only deep despair, now can he see in it fruition of hid hopes for a more fulfilling failure. Now at last can he banish from his small plot of earth his insecurities and dark resentments and rebuild in it the music and the dream.

This would have a wonderful story to tell to our children, great-grandchildren and even to the next generation. Such decision would have been very great indeed, had it not of the pending bill in the congress allowing the passage of FAC Bill, that would ultimately lead to SHATTERED DREAMS of our lowly farmers.



Here comes the bride…

What’s in for us with this fresh and enticing bill?

They say:

The bill aims to provide farmers with greater access to credit by, among other measures, combining the modern technology of the banking sector with the traditional credit needs of the rural poor. Hence the law today limits borrowing by the farmers only from the Landbank for a period of ten years.

We say:

A big NO… for to allow the farmers to mortgage their lands in the current state of Philippine Agriculture (high interest) is tantamount to taking their lands from them and even result to massive foreclosure of CARP lands.
And not only that, it will ultimately open the floodgates of land reconsideration thereby defeating the very essence of AR, that is to provide land to the tiller. Thus, violating the Sections 4 and 5 of the 1987 constitution.

They say:

The FB’s are now allowed to mortgage or sell his cultivation rights over the land to any person whether natural or juridical in order to give greater access to financial institutions. (Section 27-A)


We say:

Fac will endanger the farmers by putting their ownership at risk reverting hereto, the Social Justice intention of CARL. More so, the sale, transfer, conveyance of lands without the approval of DAR clearly shows DAR’s gradual loss of power its power to implement CARL as well as AR laws virtual repeal.


They Say:

The bill is the timely answer to the country’s declining agricultural productivity as well as investments.


We say:

This is a a big mistake, for the bill do not dig deeper to the root cause of our problem by opening the CARP-awarded lands to any mortgage, sell or conveyance and the lifting of the 5 hectare retention limit. For the very problem is the failure on the part of the government to provide for the needed support services to make the awarded lands become productive.


ENTICING yet a Poison Ivy

They say there are lots of things they can offer for the farmers… But we say no, for we believe that this bill is a POISONOUS VENOM, that if tolerated would indisputably paralyzed the peasant farmers in our land. And in return, the main objective of CARP will no longer be available thus making it a stale and obsolete law.


PILIPINAS C. PALMA
BALAOD Mindanaw, Inc.