Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 25) — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. wants a one-year moratorium on land amortization and interest payments by agrarian reform beneficiaries.
“Ang agrarian reform program ay dapat magpatuloy (Agrarian reform should be continued). Agrarian reform is not only about acquisition, but also support services and distribution. To assist this, I intend to issue an executive order to impose a one-year moratorium on the payment of land amortization and interest payments,” he said in his first State of the Nation Address on Monday.
Marcos said this provision falls under the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, a measure signed to combat the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Doing so would allow farmers ” to channel their resources in developing their farms, maximizing their capacity to produce, and propel the growth of our economy,” the president pointed out.
Moreover, civil society groups support this because “it will unburden the farmers of their dues and be able to focus on improving farm productivity,” he added.
Marcos also urged Congress to amend section 26 of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law to emancipate beneficiaries from agrarian reform debt burden.
Beneficiaries who have yet to receive their awarded land under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program “shall receive it without any obligation to pay any amortization,” the president said.
“The condonation of the existing agrarian reform loan will cover the amount of ₱58.125 billion, benefiting around 654,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries and involving a total of 1.18 million hectares of awarded lands,” he noted
As stated under Executive Order No. 75, series of 2019, Marcos stated that the government’s 52,000 hectares of unused agricultural lands will be distributed to landless war veterans, landless surviving spouse and orphans of war veterans, and landless retirees of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.
Pieces of land acquired through the said EO will be given to landless college graduates with degree in agriculture, he added.
“The call of the times is for the infusion of fresh and new blood in the agricultural sector. We need a new breed of farmers equipped with modern agricultural technology able to engage in sustained scientific farming that will not only increase farm yields, but also resilience,” Marcos explained.
