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Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Groups junk Farmland as Collateral Bill
By Christie Enriquez- Uayan
WEARING shirts marked with the words "never again", farmers and other members of people's groups Monday vowed to intensify their call for genuine agrarian reform and conducted a march rally to express their vehement opposition to Senate Bill 2553, otherwise known as the Farmland as collateral Bill.
The law clearly shows the government is passing on its responsibilities to the lending institutions, Harold Berayo, spokesperson of Lihok AR said.
The bill, authored by Senator Serge Osmeņa and endorsed by Senators Ramon
Magsaysay and Juan Flavier aims to amend Section 7 of the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law (Carl), which prohibits the selling of Carp lands within 10 years from the acquisition of the agrarian reform beneficiary (ARB).
According to Berayo, the proposed law will put the farmers in deeper quagmire of poverty and will make their dreams of acquiring their own land more elusive.
"Imbes nga nagbayad pa ang mga mag-uuma sa ilang amortization sa yuta,
maglisod pa hinoon silag samot (Farmers will bear the additional burden of paying their amortization fees and debts)," the farmer's group leader said, adding that landowners whose lands were confiscated with the implementation of Carp will be given renewed opportunity to re-acquire their lands.
SB 2553 states that Carped lands that farmers used as collateral, once sequestered by the lending companies will not be covered by Carp.
Berayo denied Department of Agrarian Reform's (DAR) pronouncements that the government has been serious in providing support services to the farmers.
He said the government is has not been keeping its promise of uplifting the lives of the tillers in the countryside, citing that their requests for assistance have been denied due to lack of funds.
The Lihok AR! spokesperson said they are strongly demanding the lawmakers to scrap the bill and for President Arroyo to implement genuine agrarian reform.
Lihok AR! is a coalition composed of Alternate Forum Research and Initiatives in Mindanao (Afrim), Mindanao Farmer's Development Center (MFDC), Peoples Alternative Development Center (PADC), Katipunan at Samahan ng mga Maralitang Mamamayan sa Kanyunan (Samakana), Sanlakas, among other organizations.
(October 7, 2003 issue)
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