New CARP seen to 'kill' rights of thousands of seasonal farm workers

MANILA, Philippines – Thousands of landless tillers working as seasonal farm workers are in danger of being excluded as beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Agrarian reform advocates raised this fear on Tuesday following the Bicameral Conference Committee's adoption of a measure extending the implementation of the 21-year-old CARP to five more years. The Senate and the House of Representatives' reconciled versions of the measure contained an amendment prioritizing regular farm workers and tenants as agrarian reform beneficiaries. Critics believe the "killer" amendment will either dilute or reverse the gains of the program by further disenfranchising seasonal farm workers, while landlords maintain control of big landholdings. The amendment, pushed by Representatives Pablo Garcia of Cebu and Henry Pryde Teves of Negros Oriental, may lead to the exclusion from the program of seasonal farm workers, mostly engaged in sugar, coconut, corn, and rice farming, according to RCM convenor Carmina Flores-Obanil. "Many of the lands left for CARP acquisition and distribution are being tilled by these marginalized farm workers whose work is seasonal because of the seasonal nature of cropping of sugarcane, coconut, corn, and rice. The social justice goal of agrarian reform would be defeated if these workers would be left out of the program," said Carmina Flores-Obanil, convenor of the Reform CARP Movement. The amendment states that landholdings subject to CARP "shall be first distributed" to regular farm workers and tenants, who will be awarded pieces of land of up to three hectares each. Only when the beneficiaries have all received three hectares each and "refuse to exercise their rights shall the remaining portion of the landholding, if any, be distributed to other beneficiaries," which include seasonal farm workers. Eighty five percent of the total CARP balance, or 920,679 hectares, consisting of coconut, sugar, corn, and rice lands remains to be acquired and distributed to farmer-beneficiaries, according to data as of January 2009 from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). A 2008 survey by the nongovernment Centro Saka Inc. showed that workers in the said lands are mostly composed of seasonal farm workers. It said that 93.5 percent of respondents from the corn sector; 87.6 percent in the coconut sector; 85.6 percent in the sugarcane sector; and 63.3 percent in the rice sector said they were seasonal farm workers. Meanwhile, those in the rubber sector (82 percent) and banana sector (46.3 percent) said they were employed as regular farm workers. Centro Saka used 1,301 respondents in its survey covering six crops in the provinces of Quezon, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Batangas, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental, South Cotabato, Zamboanga Sibugay, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, and Iloilo, and in General Santos City. Another 'killer' amendment Critics claim that the "killer" amendment was made worse by another "killer" amendment requiring a landowner to "attest" that the tillers of his farm are qualified to become CARP beneficiaries. Jose Rodito Angeles, president of peasant federation Task Force Mapalad (TFM), said that landowner attestation could be used by recalcitrant landowners to delay the CARP process or maintain control of their landholdings. He said the situation was most applicable to seasonal workers in Negros Occidental who included the sacadas or seasonal migrant sugar cutters – among the country’s poorest people, who are mostly uneducated and unorganized and may not know how to manage the land, especially without training and support from the government. "Seventy to 80 percent of the workforce in the province are seasonal farm workers. Most of the regular farm workers in the province are composed of only a few individuals loyal to the landowners. These are the encargados, cabos, drivers, and watchmen or ronda of the haciendas," said Angeles, who was once a seasonal farm worker in the Negros haciendas owned by the Arroyo family. "Landowners opposing CARP could delay the attestation so that the processing of the land claims of potential beneficiaries would also be delayed. Landowners could also fabricate names or pad the list of qualified beneficiaries loyal to them so that no portion of the land could be distributed to seasonal farm workers, especially to those who no longer want to be under the landowner’s control," added Angeles. While there could be transfer of lands to CARP beneficiaries, Angeles said that based on the experience in Negros, CARP beneficiaries who remain loyal and financially dependent on their "bosses" often illegally enter into leaseback agreements with their former landowners. Thus, the latter retain control of the haciendas. Too little land, too many farmers Too many CARP beneficiaries share on the land they work on, thus the three-hectare maximum share per beneficiary was not often met under Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988. Based on DAR data, average share of landholding per CLOA (certificate of landownership award) holder was 1.9 hectares, while for EP (emancipation patent) holders, it was only between 0.9 and 1.1 hectares per beneficiary. Edna Sobrecaray, TFM peasant organizer in Negros Occidental, said that if the first “killer" amendment on the prioritization of beneficiaries were to be applied to a 90-hectare landholding with 30 regular farm workers and 60 seasonal farm workers the latter would no longer have a share of the land because the farm would just be enough for the regular farm workers sharing three hectares each. "Under R.A. 6657, seasonal farm workers could still have a share of the land. But under this new amendment, the seasonal farm worker’s share of the land would depend on the decision of regular farm workers. But what if the regular farm workers are beholden to the landowners? It could be possible that in many areas, seasonal farm workers like the sacadas who do not enjoy the benefits provided to regular farm workers would be further disenfranchised because of this amendment," she said. The said scenario could happen in many areas in Negros like in the 200-hectare Hacienda Villabel in Barangay Tugis, Hinigaran town where regular farm workers are only composed of 15 people – an encargado, four cabos, three drivers, and seven watchmen. She said most if not all of the hacienda’s seasonal workers come from Iloilo province working for six months in Negros as sacadas. "If the landowner opposes CARP and wants to retain control of the hacienda, he could include the relatives of his loyal farm workers or his own relatives in the list of qualified beneficiaries to prevent seasonal farm workers to become CARP beneficiaries," said Sobrecaray. Fake beneficiaries? The biggest sugar lands that have not yet been placed under CARP are found in Region 6. There are 116,371 hectares of undistributed sugar lands in Western Visayas, 98 percent of which, or 113,908 hectares are in Negros Occidental, DAR data as of January 2009 show. Angeles believes the "killer" amendments will be used by influential Negros landowners to maintain control of big sugar farms in the province. "That could be the quid pro quo for the five-year extension of the CARP, further watering down the program or practically killing CARP, especially in Negros," said Angeles. But Representative Garcia said his amendments would safeguard the interest of "genuine" farm workers against "fake ones." Garcia claimed that the DAR had been forced to name "even tricycle drivers, hangers-on and mechanics," as agrarian reform beneficiaries. He said it was necessary to give role to the landowners in proving that those who claim to be actual farm workers are qualified to become CARP beneficiaries. A DAR officer, who requested anonymity, said Garcia’s claim on making non-farmers CARP beneficiaries might have basis, but only on government-acquired lands such as those under the Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran (KKK) project that segregates lands for the poor. "I won’t discount Representative Garcia’s claim that it happens in KKK settlement lands that are deemed acquired by the government and awarded to poor people, but not in privately owned agricultural lands where farmers undergo long process before they become CARP beneficiaries," the officer said. Garcia’s arguments appear to be consistent with that of the country’s biggest sugar planters. Two years ago, Garcia became the legal counsel of the country’s biggest landowners who filed a case at the Supreme Court to stop the implementation of the CARP in sugar haciendas. In the case, the landowners argued that it was unlawful for the DAR’s municipal agrarian reform officers to place sugar lands under the CARP through the issuance of notices of coverage and acquisition to landowners. They also argued that the DAR had questionably subjected sugar lands to CARP without first ascertaining whether there were regular farm workers on said lands and whether the regular farm workers were interested to own directly or collectively the lands they till. The planters likewise claimed that the government had forcibly installed nontillers, nonregular farm workers, and outsiders on sugar lands, and that the DAR “colluded" with some nongovernment organizations in designating these people as CARP beneficiaries. However, the Supreme Court dismissed the landowners’ petition, saying that the allegations were "unsupported by any evidence to prove their veracity or truthfulness." To derail CARP Akbayan Rep. Ana Theresia Hontiveros Baraquel objected to Garcia’s amendments as these could derail CARP implementation. "We are worried that the landowner attestation requirement would delay the implementation of the program and would be used by land owners to harass actual beneficiaries," she said. "We hope that the penal provisions, which include the criminalization of undue delays in the implementation of the program, would mitigate the adverse effect of this killer amendment," Baraquel added. Nevertheless, Baraquel praised the measure because it contained "major reforms," such as (a) limiting the modes of distribution to compulsory acquisition and voluntary offer to sell (VOS) (b) ban on the conversion of irrigated and irrigable agricultural land (c) inclusion of rural women and gender-responsive programs in the measure (d) removal of non-distributive schemes, including the Hacienda Luisita-type stock distribution option and (e) the indefeasibility of CLOA and legal standing of beneficiaries. But other left-leaning organizations are not convinced of the measure’s merits. "It’s still not genuine CARP. There are still many loopholes in the measure that can be used by landowners to circumvent the program, such as the VOS scheme that jack up prices of agricultural lands," said Anakpawis Rep. Joel Maglunsod. The lawmaker said Anakpawis and other party-list groups would refile House Bill 3059, or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill, in the 15th Congress. He said the bill intends to expropriate all private lands exceeding five hectares; distribute lands to farmers at no cost, write off amortization payments on lands distributed under Presidential Decree 27 and RA 6657 and fully restore canceled CLOAs, certificates of land transfer, and EPs to beneficiaries who failed to amortize on their lands. - GMANews.TV