Justice Secretary Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Unlike other agencies, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is not required to turn over agricultural lands to the Department of Agrarian Reform for the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), according to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
In a legal opinion dated August 10, De Lima told BSP Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel Juan Zuñiga Jr. that the Department of Justice agreed with the position taken by the central bank that it was excluded from coverage of Republic Act No. 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
De Lima said the BSP was exempt from Executive Order No. 407 that requires all agencies, government-owned and -controlled corporations and financial institutions to turn over ownership of their agricultural lands to the DAR.
“Owing to its unique function and responsibility to provide policy directions in the area of money…, the BSP cannot be considered among the GOCCs or GFIs required to comply with EO 407,” said De Lima in a letter to Zuñiga. Christine O. Avendaño