Program Implementation of CARP

The implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program relies heavily on

the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). As the lead implementing agency, the DAR
has the responsibility in carrying out the principal aspects of the program, which are Land
Tenure Improvement (LTI), Program Beneficiary Development (PBD), and the Agrarian
Justice Delivery (AJD).

The Land Tenure Improvement is highly recognized as the most integral aspect of the
program. This component seeks to secure the tenurial status of the farmers and
farmworkers. The DAR implements this component through Land Acquisition and
Distribution (LAD) or Non-land Transfer Schemes.

The Land Acquisition and Distribution involves the redistribution of private and
government-owned land to landless farmers and farm workers. Under Section 6 of RA 9700
( Section 16 of RA 6657 as amended) regarding Land Acquisition, the DAR identifies lands
that are eligible for distribution under the CARP with accordance to the law, acquires the
land by delivering a notice containing the offer with its corresponding value to the owner
should he choose to accept the payment. Following the acquisition of lands under Section
11 of RA 9700(Section 26 of RA 6657 as amended) the DAR distributes these to the
qualified beneficiaries, who then pay for the land through the Land Bank of the Philippines
or directly to their former owners.

Under the CARP, a total target of 10.3 million hectares of land was programmed to be
distributed over a span of ten years. Out of the total land, 6.5 million hectares of public
disposal lands and Integrated Social Forestry areas are to be distributed by the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) while 3.8 million hectares of private
agricultural lands are to be distributed by the DAR. From July 1987 to June 1992, the DAR
was able to distribute 1.77 million hectares benefiting .933 million beneficiaries, while the
DENR has distributed 1.88 million hectares to .760 million farmers.

Leasehold Operations is the alternative non-land transfer scheme that covers all tenanted
agricultural lands in retained areas and in yet to be acquired or distributed lands. Under
this component, the DAR mediates between the landowners and tenants so that their share
tenancy arrangement could be turned into a leasehold agreement, whereby the
beneficiaries will pay a fixed fee based on their own historical production records instead
of paying a large percentage share of their produce to the landowner.

The Program Beneficiaries Development is a support service delivery component of

CARP. It aims to aid the agrarian reform beneficiaries by providing them necessary support
services to make their lands more productive, and enable them to venture in income
generating livelihood projects in accordance to Section 14 of RA 9700(Section 37 of RA
6657 as amended) . Under the support service delivery programs, the Presidential Agrarian
Reform Council(PARC) ensures that agrarian reform beneficiaries are provided with
support services such as land surveys and tilting, construction of infrastructures,
marketing and production assistance, credit and training.

Agrarian Justice Delivery provides agrarian legal assistance and oversees the
adjudication of cases. Under Section 19 of RA 97600 (Section 50 of RA 6657 as amended),
the DAR is hereby vested with the primary jurisdiction to determine and adjudicate
agrarian reform matters and shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over all matters
involving the implementation of agrarian reform except those falling under the exclusive
jurisdiction of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR).

The Agrarian Legal Assistance is under the Bureau of Legal Assistance (BALA). The
BALA provides legal assistance to the beneficiaries affected by agrarian cases, particularly
those whose legal rights as ARBs are challenged by landowners.

The Adjudication of Cases involves the adjudication of cases by the Department of

Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB). The adjudication of cases deals with
disputes pertaining to tenancy relations; valuation of lands acquired by DAR under
compulsory acquisition mode; rights and obligations of persons, whether natural or
juridical, engaged in the management cultivation and use of all agricultural lands;
ejectment and dispossession of tenants/leaseholders; review of leasehold rentals; and
other similar disputes.

Benefits of CARP
In 2003, 15 years into the program, studies funded by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), AsDB, FAO, European Union (EU) and the Philippine Government, had
shown that poverty incidence among program beneficiaries declined from 47.6 to 45.2
percent, while increasing among their non-participating counterparts from 55.1 to 56.4
percent.

The Official Gazette released an update on the accomplishments in the field of agrarian
reform as of June 30, 2014.

"As of December 31, 2013, the government has acquired and distributed 6.9 million
hectares of land, equivalent to 88% of the
total land subject to CARP." Of this area, the Aquino administration has distributed a total
of 751,514 hectares, or 45% of the total landholdings to be distributed to the farmer
beneficiaries left under this administration. From this, DAR has distributed 412,782
hectares and DENR has already distributed 338,732 hectares.

In 2014 2016, Department of Agrarian Reform still needs to acquire 771,795 hectares
(187,686 hectares in 2014; 198,631 hectares in 2015; and 385,478 hectares in 2016).
The Department of Environment and Nation Resources still needs to acquire 134,857
hectares a total of 906,652 hectares.

Beneficiaries of CARPER are landless farmers, including agricultural lessees, tenants, as

well as regular, seasonal and other farmworkers. In a certain landholding the qualified
beneficiaries who are tenants and regular farmworkers will receive 3 hectares each before
distributing the remaining land to the other qualified beneficiaries like seasonal farmworks
and other farmworkers (Section 22 of CARL). The Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR) identifies and screens potential beneficiaries and validates their qualifications.
Beneficiaries must be least 15 years old, be a resident of the barangay where the land
holding is located, and own no more than 3 hectares of agricultural land.

The CARPER law has bias for organized farmers to be beneficiaries because the Congress
believes that the success rate of organized farmers is high and can make their awarded
lands productive.

At the end of the 20th century, the population of the Philippines increased rapidly to 75.32
million in a country of 297,410 square kilometers, with an average family size of six,
making the Philippines known for high population density. In addition to this, with a
population growth of 2.02 per year, the Philippine population is expected to double in the
span of 25 years. 60 percent of the Philippine population is rural, and over 12 million
Filipinos make a living directly from agricultural cultivation. Around 9.5 million hectares of
land across the Philippines are used to plan various crops. In terms of landlessness, the
number of landless agricultural families rose up from 5 million to 11.32 million families.
Out of these 11.32 families, 4.6 million make a living from lands they dont own. 0.70
million are rented, 2 million are laborers, while 1.9 million are farming as tenants.

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What is CARP?
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, more commonly known as CARP, is an
agrarian reform law of the Philippines whose legal basis is the Republic Act No.
6657,otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL). It is the
redistribution of private and public agricultural lands to help the beneficiaries survive as
small independent farmers, regardless of the tenurial arrangement. Its goals are to
provide landowners equality in terms of income and opportunities, empower land owner
beneficiaries to have an equitable land ownership, enhance the agricultural production and
productivity, provide employment to more agricultural workers, and put an end to conflicts
regarding land ownership.

The agrarian reform is part of the long history of attempts of land reform in the
Philippines. The law was outlined by former President Corazon C. Aquino through
Presidential Proclamation 131 and Executive Order 229 on June 22, 1987, and it was
enacted by the 8th Congress of the Philippines and signed by Aquino on June 10, 1988. In
1998, which was the year that it was scheduled to be completed, the Congress enacted
Republic Act No. 8532 to allocate additional funds for the program and extending the
automatic appropriation of ill-gotten wealth recovered by the Presidential Commission on
Good Governance (PCGG) for CARP until the year 2008.

An amendatory law, CARPER or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension

with Reforms or the Republic Act. 9700 was passed. It extended the deadline of distributing
agricultural lands to the farmers for an additional five years. This law also amends other
provisions and regulations formerly stated in the CARP. It was signed into law on August 7,
2009 and was set to be accomplished by the year 2014.

Why there is a need for CARP?

It is axiomatic that landlessness is one of the root causes of poverty in the Philippines.
Studies show that fair access to land plays an important role in welfare improvements in
rural Philippines.

Measurements of rural inequality show a distressing story. The Gini coefficient of land
distribution increased from 0.53 in 1960 to 0.57 in 2002 indicating the pervasive
inequalities in access to land that are getting wider. This correlates strongly with the Gini
coefficient of per capita income in 2003, which reveals that the richest 20 percent of
Filipinos received more than half of the national income while the poorest 20 percent got
only one-twentieth (or 5 percent).

Eighty percent of people living in poverty are in the rural areas and they depend on
agriculture for their living.

Land reform is the transfer of ownership and control of agricultural land from large private
landowners to landless farmers and farmworkers. Agrarian reform goes beyond land
redistribution to include the necessary measures that will bring about the economic and
political empowerment of an independent peasant class that can produce for themselves a
marketable surplus, which can support a sustainable livelihood.

A thorough going agrarian reform results in shifting the economic base of society from
agriculture to industry and paving the way for wealth creation and a functioning
democracy. This is the historical role of agrarian reform in development. Agrarian reform
played a key role in the rapid development of tiger economies of Asia like Taiwan and
South Korea.

DAR surveys and case studies conducted among agrarian reform communities across the
country found impressive results in terms of improved household incomes and rural
poverty. Incomes of agrarian reform beneficiaries were higher than regional poverty
thresholds across the board, ranging from a low of 18 percent to a high of 122 percent.

Despite the limitations of the studies, the evidence strongly suggests that given the
necessary package of program support, land distribution will result in dramatic
improvements in welfare. The surveys prove that agrarian reform can succeed in the
Philippines given the correct and adequate support granted by a developmental state.