FOR the longest time, farmers were made to believe there is a rainbow behind the enactment of Republic Act 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law which mandates the distribution of farmlands to the landless farmers.
Although there are some who were able to make it in the list of the so-called beneficiaries, most of them were not able to keep them because what they thought would be awarded to them isn’t actually free.
Under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, farmers would still have to pay (staggered scheme) for the farmland that will be awarded to them. Most of them defaulted over failure to pay while some decided to sell the land to real property developers even before the government could seize it.
To cut the long story short, most of the agrarian reform beneficiaries are no longer in possession of their farmland. It would have been easier for them if the government provided support by way of irrigation, fertilizers, farm-to-market roads, tanning areas, rice mills and other forms of technical assistance.
Thirty-five years later, the government – now under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., launched a reinvented version of his father’s food security program which embarks on local production of rice, vegetables, fruits, etc.
According to Marcos, the government is “ doing everything” to ensure that the land reform program would be completed under his administration.
In effect, he promised that all holders of CLOA (Certificate of land ownership award) who should be listed as beneficiaries should receive support from DAR and the Department of Agriculture.
Well, it makes sense somehow. The problem though is that most of the farmlands are gone as most of them have been converted into golf courses, exclusive residential enclaves, high-end resorts, among many others which only the rich can afford.
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