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Agrarian emancipation law to benefit Antique farmers

SAN JOSE, Antique (PIA) -- Some 433 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) from this province will benefit from Republic Act No. 11953 or the New Agrarian Emancipation Act (NAEA), once full implementation takes effect.

This is according to Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer Florentino Siladan from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Antique, saying that the new law condones all agrarian debts of farmer-beneficiaries.

These debts come from the failure of ARBs to settle their 30-year annual amortizations, with added 6% interest per year, in payment for the lands awarded to them under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).


The new law ultimately lifts the real estate mortgage attached to the awarded land, cancels mortgage annotation on the Emancipation Patent (EP) and Certificate of Landownership Award (CLOA), and recognizes ARBs as full-fledged owners of the awarded lands under CARP.

Throughout the country, the NAEA benefits 620,255 ARBs and involves 1,173,101.57 hectares of agrarian reform lands, with P57.56 billion in agrarian debts to be condoned, including the principal amount, interest, penalties, and surcharges.

With the huge amount to be waived by the government, DAR says that the government can afford the financial cost since the condonation of the agrarian debts will be done in a period of three to six years.

DAR adds that writing off agrarian debts is more cost-effective since the cost of monitoring, administering, and enforcing the payment of the ARBs is greater than the amount involved in the condonation.

In his message during the signing ceremony of the law, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said that true agrarian emancipation does not only include the awarding and distribution of lands but also the provision of credit facilities and support services for farmers.

President Marcos believes that these efforts will yield more sustainable farms, increased farm output, and higher incomes for farmers, stressing his Administration’s commitment to revitalize

the agricultural sector and attract new generations of farmers who will usher in sustainable rural development.

Under the new law, ARBs are also entitled to tax exemptions and receive support from CARP-implementing agencies, especially the Department of Agriculture (DA), which will provide support services, and Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) that will offer credit facilities.

DAR also reminds ARBs that the NAEA does not repeal or suspend existing laws that prohibit the sale of awarded lands for a period of 10 years from the awarding date, but notes that farmers will choose to keep their lands if given the necessary support services. (AGP/BPS/PIA Antique with reports from the Department of Agrarian Reform/Photo courtesy of Presidential Communications Office)

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