President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (File photo by RYAN LEAGOGO / INQUIRER.net)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday said that agrarian reform remained an “unrealized dream” in the Philippines.
In a land distribution ceremony in Agusan del Sur, the chief executive told land reform beneficiaries that the country would not be whole if farmers remained in debt.
“Agrarian reform remains an unrealized dream because the emancipation of farmers does not end with the receipt of titles declaring ownership of the land they are already tilling. They must be unshackled from debt, freed from the high cost of inputs, relieved of constraints that impoverish them,” Marcos said in his speech.
A total of 3,184 land titles were distributed to farmers in the ceremony, covering a total of 4,659 hectares of agricultural land in the Caraga region.
Marcos then recounted that he ordered a moratorium on the payments of agrarian debt in September 2022, eventually signing the New Agrarian Emancipation Act in July 2023.
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The law condoned the P57.557 billion debt of 610,054 farmers, specifically the unpaid amortization, interest, surcharge, and penalties of existing loans of farmers tilling more than 1 million hectares of land.
Agrarian reform has been the goal of many administrations before Marcos, including his predecessor, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Duterte wanted to see all government lands under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program be distributed, yet his government saw lower distribution rates compared to the past administration.