P100K PASANIN NG BAWAT PINOY (Malaking budget sa DAR SPLIT program, kinuwestiyon )

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas today raised concerns about the enormous budget proposal for the Department of Agrarian Reform’s Support to Parcelization of Land Individual Titles or SPLIT. The program which was initially allocated ₱24.62 billion for its four-year implementation from 2020 to 2024, will be funded mostly by conditional loans from the World Bank, with counterpart funds from the Philippine government. It will reportedly cover 1.38 million hectares of land with Collective Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) for parcelization.

“The SPLIT project was supposedly implemented to improve the land tenure security and stabilize the property rights of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). However, this project will only allow the institutionalization of awarded lands as collateral assets. Likewise, it will also further undermine the demand of farmers for genuine land reform as it will make reconcentration of awarded lands easier and more convenient,” according to KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos.

SPLIT’s budget for 2023 will increase by 58% to P6.14 billion from its current allocation of P2.55 billion. The breakdown of this budget is ₱1.58 billion as government counterpart and ₱4.55 billion as loan proceeds. The said project makes up almost 40% of DAR’s proposed budget for next year.

“Ito pong SPLIT project ay popondohan ng loans o utang sa World Bank at tiyak na dadagdag ito sa kasalukuyang utang ng bansa na ₱13-trillion o lampas ₱100,000 bawat Pilipino,” Ramos said.

SPLIT will get a higher budget allocation than DAR’s standing programs such as agrarian justice delivery and ARB Development and Sustainability KMP demands DAR to present an accountability report of the SPLIT project.

The farmers’ group is also seeking a national dialogue with new agrarian reform secretary Conrad Estrella regarding the resolution of long-standing land disputes in the country. “We are open and willing to discuss with Secretary Estrella our proposals for a genuine agrarian reform program including the proposal for a moratorium on land-use conversion and condonation of land amortization payments. We have concrete proposed doables for DAR. We are keeping our lines open and we hope Secretary Estrella will listen to what farmers have to say,” according to KMP chairperson emeritus Rafael Mariano, DAR’s former chief.

Farmer leaders from Hacienda Tinang in Tarlac led a picket protest outside the House of Representatives this morning to demand DAR’s finalization of the installation of legitimate agrarian reform beneficiaries. Farmers and supporters of MAKISAMA-Tinang are still facing criminal charges after the violent dispersal of their land cultivation activity last June.