nerny os
Republic of the Philippines ur DEERE OG

House of Representatives
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

3803

HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by Hon. Wilfredo S. Caminero and Hon. Tom S. Villarin

EXPLANATORY NOTE

It is the avowed policy of the State to pursue a Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program that gives highest consideration to the welfare of the landless
farmers and farm-workers as an objective and a strategy to move the nation towards
sound rural development and industrialization. In promoting self-reliance among
poor farmers, there is a conscious effort to establish owner cultivatorship of
economic-size farms as the basis of Philippine agriculture.

With this end in view, the Agrarian Land Reform Code (RA 3844), which
was enacted way back on 08 August 1963, initially abolished tenancy; subsequently,
in June 1988, Republic Act No. 6657 was born out of acrimonious debate across the
entire socio-political spectrum to wilfully pave the way to a more equitable
distribution and ownership of land, with due regard to the rights of landowners to
just compensation and to the ecological needs of the nation. It expressly committed
government to provide farmers and farm-workers with the opportunity to enhance
their dignity and improve the quality of their lives through greater productivity of
agricultural lands.

To ensure a major advancement of agrarian reform in the country, RA
3844 also established a financial intermediary mandated to help primarily with the
provision of timely and adequate financial support in all phases of the CARP,
particularly in the purchase of agricultural estates for division and resale to small
landholders, and the purchase of land by the agricultural lessee. This corporate body


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is presently known as the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), the implementing arm
of the CARP in terms of land valuation, compensation to owners of agricultural lands,
and collection of amortizations from CARP-farmer beneficiaries. In 1977, to ensure
long-term viability as a universal bank, LBP was reorganized to form three major
sectors ~ Agrarian, Banking and Operations, As of December 2010, its reported total
assets of 565.72 billion pesos and total net income after tax of 8.108 billion pesos
translated to an annual growth of 20%. However, perhaps as an unintended result of
its diversified operations, it has been observed that its original role of providing a
farmer-centric spur for countryside development may have diminished its focus, and
the provision of credit assistance to small farmers and fisherfolks and agrarian
reform beneficiaries deprioritized,

Hence, during the Thirty-Fifth Presidential Agrarian Reform Council
meeting held on 12 September 2016, the President decided to push for the passage
of a legislation renaming the Land Bank of the Philippines to the Farmers Bank of the
Philippines, to bring the focus and the services of this Specialized Government Bank
back to its original clientele, the small farmers and farm-workers.

It is therefore with fervent hope that this proposed measure ‘will be
enacted soonest.

Hon(Tom &. Villarin
Representative, 2" District; Cebu Representative, AKBAYAN Party-List



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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House BILL No._ 8803

Introduction by the Representatives Wilfredo S. Caminero and Tom S. Villarin

AN ACT RENAMING THE LAND BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES TO THE FARMERS BANK OF
THE PHILIPPINES, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION 74 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO.
3844, ENTITLED “AN ACT TO ORDAIN THE AGRICULTURAL LAND REFORM CODE AND
TO INSTITUTE LAND REFORMS IN THE PHILIPPINES INCLUDING THE ABOLITION OF
TENANCY AND THE CHANNELING OF CAPITAL INTO INDUSTRY, PROVIDE FOR THE
NECESSARY IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES, APPROPRIATE FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES" .

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in

Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Section 74 of Republic Act No. 3844 is hereby amended to read as

follows:

SEC. 74, Creation. To finance the acquisition by the Government of landed
estates for division and resale to small landholders, as well as the purchase of the
landholding by the agricultural lessee from the landowner, there is hereby established a

body corporate and government instrumentality to be known as the [“Land Bank of the


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Philippines”) “FARMERS BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES”, hereinafter called the “Bank”,
which shall have its principal place of business in Greater Manila, The legal existence of
the Bank shall be for a period of fifty (50) years from the expiration of the original term
on 08 August 2013, renewable for another fifty (50) years. The Bank shall be subject to
such rules and regulation as the Central Bank may from to time promulgate.”

SEC. 2. All laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, rules and regulation,
contracts, and other issuances or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the

Provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect Upon its publication in at least two (2) national

papers of general circulation.

Approved,

HE