ILOCOS NORTE (September 12, 2023)—Sen. Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos said the revalidation of the identities and certificates of land ownership awards (CLOAs) of farmers before they could receive land titles as promised under Republic Act (RA)11953, or the “New Agrarian Emancipation Act” is “redundant.”
Marcos, who chairs the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, voiced her firm position against a “redundant revalidation” ahead of the President’s signing of the new law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR) on Tuesday.
“We would like to emphasize the spirit of the law to facilitate the awarding of lands to agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). There should be no unnecessary revalidation for farmers to avail of the emancipation program,” she added.
Describing the IRR’s completion as a fitting tribute to “my father and the father of land reform,” former president Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., in time for his 106th birth anniversary on Monday, September 11, Marcos said, “the IRR would be meaningless to farmers if this posed a new hurdle to their dream of owning land.”
Also citing the land reform program’s inception in October 1972 through Presidential Decree 27, she said “there is no need to extend what is already the longest-running land reform program in history.”
“Besides freeing farmers from unpaid debt, the prompt handover of land titles due them under RA 11953 will improve their access to financing that can increase their crop production and spur the country’s agricultural growth,” Marcos said.
With only 68,427 ARBs having received their land titles or 11.2 percent of the 610,054 beneficiaries, the government has yet to fulfill the new law’s promise of land ownership for most farmers, she said.
Based on a report from the Department of Agrarian Reform, some 85,853 hectares of land titles were already awarded to farmers which is only 7.3 percent of the 1,173,102 hectares that are up distribution.
Marcos noted that the uncertainty in land ownership among ARBs and the lack of investment backed by collateral assets such as land have dragged on the country’s agricultural growth.
“Forced to borrow from informal lending channels that charged usurious interest rates, our farmers became poorer and less capable of uplifting the state of our agriculture,” she said.
However, Marcos said she is optimistic that the land titles anticipated by farmers would prevent them from giving up on their livelihood and encourage the next generation to take it up.
“Patience is a virtue but please don’t make them wait much longer,” she added.