fen
Republic of the Philippines G y;
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES iis RECEIVED eo)
Quezon City {2 DATBEP 0 1 2022
. Fett,
NINETEENTH CONGRESS |, TIME: ~
First Regular Session :

House Bill No. 4333

Introduced by Rep. ANGELO MARCOS BARBA
24 District, Ilocos Norte

EXPLANATORY NOTE

In line with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos’ main thrust in
helping Filipino farmers to further concentrate on farm productivity and to
eventually ensure the success of the administration’s food security program,
the importance of passing a law that will aid our Agrarian Reform
Beneficiaries (ARBs) is deemed urgent and ni 2

This bill seeks to emancipate the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs)
who are considered to be the last, and unfortunately, the least priority in the
agricultural commerce chain. This bill likewise seeks to condone all unpaid
amortizations and interests in connection with the loans they secured under
the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). This condonation
thereby relieves all ARBs from unnecessary dues that further cripple them in
obtaining the land they cultivate and till for years.

Specifically, this bill seeks to amend Sections 20, 26, and 37 of Republic
‘Act No. 6657, also known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program,
Section 6 of Executive Order 228 of 1987, and other agrarian reform laws that
are still restrictive in terms unfavorable to the Filipino peasants, particularly
as regards their agrarian reform debt.

This New Emancipation Act likewise seeks for the restitution of the
Agrarian Reform Award, which possible endpoint is forfeiture, solely due to
non-payment of annual amortization and interest.

In view of the foregoing, the swift and immediate passage of this bill is
earnestly sought.

ANGE! MARCOS BARBA

* Moaje, M. (2022, July 25.) Marcos wants loan condonation for agrarian reform beneficiaries. Philippine News
‘Agency. Retrieved 30 August 2022, from https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1179684,


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No, 4333

Introduced by Rep. ANGELO MARCOS BARBA
24 District, Hocos Norte

AN ACT OF PROMOTING THE EMANCIPATION OF AGRARIAN
REFORM BENEFICIARIES FROM THE DEBT BURDEN THROUGH
THE FREE AWARD OF AGRICULTURAL LANDS UNDER THE
COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM,
APPROPRIATING 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. Short Title. - This shall be known as the “New Emancipation

SECTION 2. Condonation of the Agrarian Reform Debt. - The existing
loan of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) due to unpaid amortization or
interest shall be condoned. All unpaid amortizations and interests, including
penalties or surcharges, if any, due from loans secured under the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) or from other agrarian
reform programs are hereby condoned by the Government, relieving all ARBs
from the payment thereof, thereby amending Section 26 of Republic Act No.
6657, as amended, Section 6 of Executive Order No. 228, series of 1987, as
well as the pertinent provisions of other agrarian reform laws.

SECTION 3. Termination of Payment of Compensation by ARBs Under
Voluntary Land Transfer. - The financial obligation of the ARBs to pay the
value of the awarded land to the landowners acquired under the voluntary
land transfer scheme is hereby extinguished, thereby amending Section 20 of
Republic Act No. 6657, as amended. Payment of the remaining balance of the
compensation due the concerned landowners under the voluntary land
transfer scheme, if any, shall be paid by the Government from the Agrarian
Reform Fund through the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP).

SECTION 4. Free Land Distribution to ARBs. - ARBs who are still to
receive their awarded lands under the CARP or any other agrarian reform
program shall do so without any obligation to pay any amortization. All
agricultural lands covered under the CARP or any other agrarian reform
program which have not been distributed at the time of the effectivity of this
Act, shall be distributed at no cost to the qualified beneficiaries.


SECTION 5. Broadened Scope of Support Services to Agrarian Reform
Beneficiaries under the CARP. - In addition to the support services available
to the ARBs under Section 37 of R.A. No. 6657, as amended, the DAR,
together with the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC), shall ensure
that support services and assistance indispensable to agricultural productivity
and resiliency, enterprise development, and financial literacy of the ARBs, as
well as the need for sustenance, dwelling, clothing, medical assistance,
education, transportation, among others, of such beneficiaries and their
families. Any form of support services rendered by any banking or financial
institution for the benefit of the beneficiaries and their families shall be
deemed a form of support under the Agrarian Reform Program thereby
amending Section 37 of Republic Act No. 6657, as amended.

This Section is without prejudice to the support services available to ARBs
from other National Government Agencies.

SECTION 6. Preference to Credit Facilities and Support Services for
Beneficiaries with Paid Amortizations. - ARBs who have completed payment
of the amortization schedule and the payment of interest charges under
Section 26 of Republic Act No. 6657, as amended, Section 6 of Executive
Order No. 228 of 1987, and other agrarian reform laws shall be given
preference in the provision od support services and access to credit facilities.

SECTION 7. Issuance of Agrarian Reform Title. - The proper Registry of
Deeds shall issue the Emancipation Patent, the Certificate of Land Ownership
Award, or any other title based on the applicable agrarian reform law within
sixty (60) days from the registration of the title in the name of the Republic of
the Philippines.

SECTION 8. Conditions to the Grant of Full Ownership. - The grant of
full ownership of lands that have been distributed or shall, in the future, be
distributed to ARBs pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 27, Republic Act No.
6657, or any other agrarian reform law, shall be subject to the following
conditions which shall be annotated on the appropriate titles evidencing
ownership to be issued and registered in the names of qualified ARBs:

A. The ARBs shall comply with the conditions set forth under the
Conditional Cash Transfer Program (CCTP) of the Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Provided, however, That
compliance with such conditions for the purposes of this Act shall not
be identified or treated as the compliance required under the CCTP;

B. The ARBs shall undergo or attend, at least once a year, free of charge,
in new farming techniques, the use of better quality and higher
yielding seeds, mechanization, agri-entrepreneurship, and such other
skills and capabilities enhancement programs to increase farm yields
and farm incomes in any accredited farm school or agriculture
institute, or training programs sponsored or conducted by the
Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR) and related agencies and instrumentalities of government an


accredited private sector agri-education groups;

C. The ARBs shall volunteer for community service such as greening and
watershed protection, disaster relief and rehabilitation, irrigation and
water impounding system repairs and similar volunteer services that
benefit their farming communities;

D. The ARBs shall ensure that the lands distributed to them are cultivated
or are otherwise devoted for agriculture.

The obligations herein set forth shall be observed by the ARBs or their
successors-in-interest for ten (10) years from the time of the grant of
ownership or from the effectivity of this Act, whichever comes later. The
ownership of the lands shall revert to the government in case of unjustified
failure of the ARBs or their successors-in-interest to comply with the above
enumerated conditions for two (2) successive years: Provided, That should the
lands in question be reclassified as either residential, industrial, commercial,
or any class other than agricultural, compliance with the above conditions
shall henceforth no longer be necessary: Provided, further, That for lands that
have already been distributed prior to the effectivity of this Act, the ARBs
thereof or their successors-in-interest shall comply with the foregoing
conditions only for the remainder of the 10-year period mentioned in Sec. 27
of R.A. No. 6657, as amended.

Nothing in this Section shall prejudice the full ownership or any vested
right of ARBs or their successors-in-interest over the land distributed to them
if such ownership or right had already been vested to them prior to the
effectivity of this Act.

SECTION 9. Restitution of the Agrarian Reform Award Forfeited Solely
due to Non-Payment of Annual Amortization and Interest. — Any pending
administrative or judicial case involving the forfeiture by the DAR of the
agrarian reform award solely due to the failure of an ARB to pay the thirty
(30)-year amortization plus six percent (6%) annual interest shall
immediately be dismissed motu proprio, by the office or the court. The
execution of a final and executory administrative or judicial case decision due
to the failure of an ARB to pay the 30-year amortization plus 6% annual
interest resulting to the disqualification of the ARB, the cancellation of the
agrarian reform title, the extinguishment of the rights of possession and
ownership of the awarded land, as well as the removal of the person from the
awarded land or the dismantling of any improvements found therein, shall be
immediately terminated, the agrarian reform award immediately restored,
and the forfeiture of decision accordingly reversed. Any agrarian reform title
cancelled as a result of the final and executory administrative or judicial case
decision shall immediately be reconstituted. In the event that the agricultural
land has already been awarded to another beneficiary, the DAR shall as far as
equitable award another land to the disqualified ARB.

SECTION 10. Disqualification of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries due to
Acts and Omissions Constituting Violations of Agrarian Reform Laws. ~ Any
person convicted by final judgment of any of the prohibited acts and


omissions under Sec. 73 and meted any of the penalties under Sec. 74 of R.A.
No. 6657, as amended, is disqualified to avail of the benefits under this Act.
Disqualification also results for any determination by final judgment that the
ARB, in violation of Sec. 22 of R.A. No. 6657, as amended, failed to
continuously exhibit the willingness, aptitude, and ability to cultivate and
make the awarded land as productive as possible or neglected or abandoned
the awarded land continuously for a period of two (2) calendar years as
provided under.

SECTION 11. Right of the Landowner to Just Compensation. — Social
justice is not only actualized when the landless farmer or farm worker
becomes the owner of the land they till. It is indispensable that a landowner
whose land has been acquired and distributed to qualified beneficiaries under
the CARP is paid just compensation. Nothing herein shall diminish the right
of landowners to be justly compensated for their agricultural lands acquired
under the said program.

SECTION 12. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — The DAR, with
the technical assistance of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), shall,
within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act, formulate the necessary
Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

SECTION 13. Agency Support. - All other government offices and
agencies are directed to render such prompt and necessary assistance, subject
to applicable laws, rules and regulations, to fully implement the provisions of
this Act.

SECTION 14. Funding. — The amount necessary for the implementation
of this Act shall be charged against the Agrarian Reform Fund. The funding
requirements for the implementation of this Act shall be included in the
annual budget of the DAR through the LBP.

SECTION 15. Separability Clause. — In the event that any provision of
this Act or any part hereof is declared invalid, illegal, or unconstitutional, the
provisions not thereby affected shall remain in full force and effect.

SECTION 16. Repealing Clause. — All issuances or parts hereof that are
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or modified
accordingly.

SECTION 17. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after
its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,