Land distribution to continue even after lapse of CARP Law

MANILA, Philippines - Land distribution will continue beyond June 30, 2014 as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) did not end last Tuesday, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said yesterday.

Agrarian reform Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Anthony Parungao said the expiration date of CARP only applies to the issuance of Notices of Coverage (NOC), which allows DAR to proceed and finish the distribution of private agricultural lands.

Section 30 of Republic Act 9700, the CARP Extension with Reforms, states that cases still pending on June 30, 2014 shall be allowed to proceed to finality and be executed even beyond such date, he added.

Less than 17 percent of covered landholdings or 78,303 hectares actually remain to be served with NOCs.                  

Parungao said efforts are being made in Congress as certified by President Aquino to give DAR at least one or two more years to issue more NOCs.               

“We will continue to process all pending cases and proceedings as long as NOCs have been served these landholdings, per Section 30 of CARPer law, as supported by two Department of Justice opinions, the transcript of the Bicameral Conference Committee in 2009, and the current budget law,” he said.                

Landholdings that DAR has distributed from 1972 to 2014 have been placed at 4,598,976 hectares. Of the DAR-distributed land, government lands make up the largest part at 2,047,111 hectares or 45 percent of the total, followed by voluntary land transfers with 826,937 hectares or 18 percent.                  

Tenanted rice and corn land compulsorily distributed under Presidential Decree 27 make up 589,410 hectares or 13 percent, and private agricultural lands subjected to compulsory acquisition consist of 326,140 hectares or 7 percent.                

Only 20 percent of DAR’s total accomplishment are private lands, which the government compulsorily acquired from landowners and distributed to beneficiaries.               

The DAR said between 2014 and 2016, the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) balance is 771,795 hectares; 60 percent are private agricultural lands to be distributed through compulsory acquisition.                            

Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. has branded as misinformation and misinterpretation reports that the CARP ended last June 30. – With Artemio Dumlao, Jess Diaz