Bulatlat News
Former agrarian reform secretary and former Anakpawis lawmaker Rafael Mariano said among those snubbed include the Rice Industry Development Bill as well as the proposed measures for the granting of P15,000 ($268.07) production subsidies for farmers and fisherfolks.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – As the 19th Congress adjourned its first regular session on June 2, a farmers group lamented that not a single pro-people measure was deliberated in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.
In a statement, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas pointed out that many legislative measures for the interest of basic sectors such as the workers, farmers and the fisherfolks were snubbed by the lawmakers.
Former agrarian reform secretary and former Anakpawis lawmaker Rafael Mariano said among those snubbed include the Rice Industry Development Bill as well as the proposed measures for the granting of P15,000 ($268.07) production subsidies for farmers and fisherfolks.
“Under this worsening food crisis situation, it is rather unfortunate that lawmakers opted to prioritize the Maharlika Investment Fund,” Mariano said.
The controversial Maharlika Investment Fund, one of the priority bills of Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., was passed by Congress on May 31. The measure was criticized by many as it will utilize P500 billion worth of public funds mainly through the Landbank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and other government agencies.
Read: Groups oppose railroading of Maharlika fund
Mariano also criticized the New Agrarian Emancipation Act that will condone the unpaid amortization of farmer-beneficiaries, saying that the land should have been distributed for free.
According to Mariano, the bill is not an entirely new agrarian reform program that will replace the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) which will turn 35 this year.
He said the program’s land acquisition component expired in 2014 and the government has since stopped acquiring private lands for distribution to farmer-beneficiaries. Instead, he said, the government focused on its backlogs and distribution of government owned-lands.
“It is only necessary to pardon the debts of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) who are unable to pay for the land already awarded to them through CARP. Distributing the land for free should have been done long before.
Farmers have been asserting the legislation of free land distribution through the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill but our demands fell on deaf ears once again under the Marcos Jr administration,” Mariano said.
The said legislation was among Marcos Jr.’s supposed landmark accomplishments, he said, as it targets to condone P58 billion ($1.036 billion) in agrarian arrears of more than 600,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries in 1.18 million hectares of awarded lands.
Mariano explained that the approved measure did not broaden the scope of support services for all ARBs . It will only give preferential access to credit facilities and comprehensive support services to those who are fully paid with their amortization, he said.
“We expect Marcos Jr to showcase the New Agrarian Emancipation Act in his next State of the Nation Address. However, a thousand and one problems within the agriculture sector remain unsolved,” Mariano said.
Among the measures that were signed into law last year include the SIM Registration Act, the Act Postponing the Barangay Elections, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines Fixed Term Law.
In 19th Congress, four more approved laws are awaiting Marcos Jr.’s signature including the Condonation of Unpaid Amortization and Interests of Loans of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries, the Regional Specialty Centers Act, the Extension of the Estate Tax Amnesty Act, and the recently passed Maharlika Investment Fund Act. (JJE, RVO) 
