BY MATÉ ESPINA
FROM the title itself, this new bill seeks to cover all government lands for agricultural business as a supposed solution to poverty.
House Bill 7477, entitled State-Managed Farming was recently filed by Rizal 1st District congressman Jack Duavit and is now under discussion at the House of Congress.
LandBank official, Atty. Jayvee Hinlo, was the one who conceptualized the program along with the Philippine Development Movement, of which Duavit is a member also. Jayvee sent me this proposal last year yet, but I have always been skeptical of government going into business as there are plenty of initiatives started by government that eventually failed.
But Jayvee said this is different and can be a game changer in the country’s fight against poverty. In truth, it is well conceptualized but I continue to have my reservations because I have yet to see a project managed by government, be it national or local, that actually became sustainable.
The bill proposes that national and local governments will manage government lands and even rent private lands for agricultural business. From planting, maintaining, harvesting, transporting and marketing of produce, including livestock will be under the thumb of either the national of local governments.
The first obvious advantage is that this will provide employment for Filipinos. This is one reservation I have of course because right now, government is the top employer in the country and if this bill passes into a law, government will be employing thousands more all over the country.
I actually like the objectives of the law as it includes achieving food security, fully utilizing idle government and private lands for agriculture, additional income for LGUs by way of property taxes and will hopefully scrap the dole outs or subsidies by the national government among others.
One objective also encourages the lease-back concept for agrarian reform beneficiaries, but this time, not to private companies or planters but to government units.
We are an agricultural country but in truth, we have not fully utilized our land and we have become dependent on imports of even basic agricultural products. This program may actually help in food security but I’d rather this will be implemented by experts and well-meaning activists and advocates rather than by government.
The Philippine Statistics Authority’s records show that as of 2019, there are over 14 million hectares all over the country that are considered alienable and disposable lands. Of course not all of it may be conducive to farming, but even if half of that will be utilized for agricultural business if the bill becomes a law, we may actually realize food security.
Among the areas, Region has the highest alienable and disposable land at 1.4 million hectares followed by Regions 5 and 3 with 1.2+ each. The National Capital Region which is highly industrialized has the lowest at 48,000 hectares.
A closer look at another government program, the CARP, which was aimed to alleviate farmers from poverty, was also agricultural in nature. It has distributed over five million hectares of arable land but while there are success stories, there are more failures.
There are merits to the bill but there are very controversial areas as well which may find a lot of opposition but I will focus on just two for now – the employment rules and issues concerning agrarian reform lands.
On employment, this bill will give power to government agencies and chief executives to hire people that will officially be employed by government sans civil service qualifications for as long as they are engaged in the business of agriculture and its value chain.
We already have an issue with job orders and contractual employments in probably all LGUs are these are mostly political considerations rather than based on merits. How much more with this program that will require thousands of hands and may become another source of abuse and corruption by government heads.
The other issue may well be on agrarian reform lands which can actually be sold by the beneficiaries or their heirs to a private individual or company after 10 years for as long as it has been fully paid. In fact, there are some that have been sold back to original landowners or to the private sector, if not leased back.
This bill though gives priority to government, its offices, the LGUs, state colleges and universities and government financial institutions to purchase the land before the private sector can. This will turn government institutions and offices into real estate moguls is my fear.
This clause alone that allows “Government, Government Offices to include the Indigenous Peoples, LGUs, SUC and the GOCCs shall be allowed to lease, possess, utilize, control and manage lands for agricultural business without a limit to size,” will generate so much debate.
Again, there are merits but there are also issues that need to be threshed out. The main objective is well-placed, good and doable but the kinks must be ironed out. And till then, I will maintain my reservations because I continue to believe that government has no moral ascendency to prove that they are good in going into business./PN
