Agrarian Reform and Philippine Political Development

Abstract

For about sixty-five years, the problem of landownership and control of resources continue to be a political development issue in the Philippines—between the wealthy landlords and the poor and landless farmworkers. Agrarian reform is viewed as a necessary condition for agricultural modernization and rural industrialization and the fundamental mooring for global competition. After 12 years of implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in the Philippines, the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have redistributed 5.33 million hectares of land that account for 53.4 percent of the total farmland. This accomplishment represents 66 percent of the total CARP scope. About 3.1 million rural poor households, who constitute about forty-two percent of the total agricultural population, have directly benefited from the land redistribution. Agrarian Reform has contributed to improvement of the socioeconomic conditions of landless farmers and political development of the Philippines in terms of engaging the landless in the process of policy making and distribution of large private landholdings to the landless. The various modalities that give peasants a stake in society such as decisive role in agrarian legislations, engaging them in dialogue to resolve agrarian cases, presenting manifesto pinpointing their criticisms and recommendations on implementing rules and guidelines, identification of farmer beneficiaries and lands to be covered, negotiation on the mode of land acquisition and distribution and computation of land values, have significantly influence the process of democratization and establishment of participatory institutions at the local and national levels.