Zoraida Macadindang, regional director the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Northern Mindanao, sharing her agency’s annual accomplishments to “Kapihan sa PIA” host Jan Albert Arana, December 18, 2024, Limketkai Mall, Cagayan de Oro City. With them is Assistant Regional Director for Administration Seny Fe Fabe (left). DAR-10 photo
MindanaoToday.com | LBP writes off P376M ARB’s debt in Normin
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY Over five thousand farmer beneficiaries of the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in Northern Mindanao have every reason to celebrate this Christmas after their combined loan balance of P376.143 million with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) have been condoned.
Regional Director Zoraida Macadindang of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Northern Mindanao disclosed this on Wednesday, December 18, at a “Kapihan sa PIA” forum at the Limketkai Mall here, following the distribution of 6,538 Certificates of Condonation with Released of Mortgage (COCROM) to 5,184 FBs six days earlier in Malaybalay City.
“Now, they need not go to the Land Bank to pay their annual amortizations because the government has condoned their loan balances,” Macadindang said while acknowledging all DAR-10 personnel behind the condonation process in the region.
The condonation of annual loan amortizations of CARP FBs came after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inked Republic Act No. 11953 on July 7, 2023 in the presence of Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III and LBP President and Chief Executive Officer Lynette Ortiz. The DAR secretary sits in the LBP Board as one of the directors.
R.A. No. 11953, dubbed as the New Agrarian Reform Emancipation Act of 2023, however, took effect only on July 24, 2023 with the issuance of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) on the landmark legislation.
In Northern Mindanao, Bukidnon recorded most number of CCRM recipients with 3,090 FBs, followed by Misamis Oriental with 1,155, then by Misamis Occidental with 650, next by Lanao del Norte with 272, and finally Camiguin with 17.
Among the beneficiaries is 72-year-old Ernesto Tabamo Demetes, a farmer from Camiguin whose P110 thousand loan balance with the LBP was written off.
Another is Rulita Macalisang of Misamis Occidental, who represented her aging father, Rodolfo, in receiving the document that condoned the remaining annal amortization of P18,000 for the land granted to them.
In Bukidnon, 82-year-old Victoriano Prieto was overjoyed upon learning he need not pay LBP the remaining P23 thousand amortization and that he is already assured of a Certificate of Land Title. He said he has already been freed from indebtedness.
Earlier, former Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno expressed his support for the measure saying, “The New Agrarian Emancipation Act is a win for our agrarian reform beneficiaries and an important step towards improving agricultural production.”
He said that “condoning ARBs’ unpaid debts will allow farmers to focus their efforts on increasing the productivity of agrarian reform lands.”
Upon the signing of R.A. 11953, LBP issued a press statement, ensuring that they “will be working closely with government partners for the seamless and immediate implementation of the new law.”
It further stated that the measure “frees agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) nationwide from agrarian debts, in line with efforts to boost and modernize the agriculture sector.”
At that time, LBP announced that, as of June 2023, they could write-off a total of P57.74 billion, thus effectively relieving over 649,000 ARBs who were tilling 1.17 million hectares of land debt.
Of the P57.74 billion, the national government condone outright P14.56 billion in principal loans of over 263,000 ARBs upon the effectivity of the law.
The DAR, in coordination with LBP expedited the processing of the remaining P43.17 billion principal loans of over 385,000 ARBs across the country.
The New Agrarian Emancipation Act condones all loans, including interests, penalties, and surcharges incurred by ARBs from land awarded to them under Presidential Decree 27 (Tenant Emancipation Decree issued in 1972), Republic Act No. 6657 (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988), and Republic Act No. 9700. An Act strengthening the CARP and extending the acquisition and distribution of agricultural lands, issued in 2009. [Uriel Quilinguing/MT]
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