The problem with CARP

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor CEDELF P. TUPAS Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

A report submitted by the Provincial Assessor showed that the unpaid real property tax for 104,914 hectares of farmland covered by agrarian reform in Negros Occidental covering the period from 1998 to September 21, 2007 currently amounts to P1.31 billion.

Another study conducted by the provincial government to determine the status of agrarian reform beneficiaries in the province showed the need for adequate support services to help them make the land productive. The same study also revealed that 41 percent of the agrarian reform beneficiaries in the province are no longer tillers of their land, having either sold or leased their rights to the property awarded to them by the program. These gloomy figures provide corroboration to the argument that CARP is an example of another good program that is unfortunately falling short of its objectives because of poor implementation and support systems.

Landowners who fail to pay taxes are either grossly ignorant of their obligation to the government or are unable to harness the potential of their land for it to be productive. Either way, a billion pesos in unpaid taxes in Negros Occidental alone is a glaring indictment of the failure of CARP to improve lives and concurrently build the nation.

The report that almost half of the beneficiaries have given up their rights to the land, probably due to the fact that they cannot afford to till the land and make it productive, denigrates the Agrarian Reform Program into nothing more than a dole-out, a concept that goes against the primary rationale for land reform which is to make the beneficiaries self-sufficient.

The failures of CARP in Negros, especially in uplifting the lives of poor farmers, should be taken into consideration during the evaluation of the program as it expires next year so that if ever the program will be continued, those shortcomings are not repeated.

By now our government must have seen that successful agrarian reform is not the simple act of giving away land, and unless the government improves the program to equip CARP beneficiaries with the proper tools to succeed, especially with regards to training and access to financial support systems, true land reform in the Philippines will forever remain yet another elusive dream.*