Imee seeks loan condonation for some 600,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Imee Marcos is pushing for a loan condonation for more than 600,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries.

“If condonation is doable and viable there is no doubt that the condonation of all remaining agrarian reform debts is also the desirable end,” Marcos said during her privilege speech at the Senate plenary session on Wednesday.

“At least 654,047 agrarian reform families will be granted a total of 1.35 million hectares of land, liberating the countryside from the burden of debt and despair,” she continued.

According to Marcos, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has a backlog of 173,339 hectares of land to be distributed to beneficiaries.

She added that the government currently has sufficient funds to address the backlog of DAR.

“The government’s remaining balance totals the amount of P8.36 billion: First, for acquiring DAR’s remaining backlog hectarage for P7.32 billion, and P1.04 billion for titling said land,” Marcos said.

“For a change, we already have more than enough money: we can now use the possible funding that may be used to fund the condonation,” she added.

Marcos noted that the condonation fund might be sourced from the P34.47-billion from the Agrarian Reform Fund; P10.22 billion from the Philippine Guarantee Corporation-Agricultural Guarantee Fund Pool; and P4.39-billion Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation shares in the Agri-Agra Fund.

Marcos called for improving farmers’ welfare, especially now that there is a looming food crisis.

She likewise pushed to stop importing foods that can quickly be grown locally.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Imee’s brother who concurrently sits as agriculture chief, asked Congress during his first state of the nation address to craft a law condoning the debts of agrarian reform beneficiaries.

JPV