Ramos Constitution

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When Fidel Ramos took over in July 1992, his administration came face to face with public who have lost confidence in the agrarian reform program.His administration committed to the vision “ Fairer, faster and more meaningful implementation of the Agrarian Reform Program.” and identified the five major task to be done to sustain the gains of CARP:

1. bringing back the support of CARP stakeholders;

2. energize the bureaucracy (DAR) and improve the program operating systems;

3. find more sources for the program;

4. bridge certain existing gaps in policy; and

5. strengthen the program’s role in reducing rural poverty by raising productivity and income of farmer beneficiaries through an integrated and sustainable approach at beneficiaries development.

DAR rebuilds its relationship with various pro-reform initiatives from below by conducting consultations with key program stakeholders and holding joint targeting and planning sessions with them, with a deep appreciation for the potential of working with peoples organizations and non-government organizations. The collaborative effort resulted in joint formulation and lobbying efforts to protect and strengthen the programs gains from agrarian reform.

In 1993, the DAR launched the Agrarian Reform Communities approach to program beneficiary development. The approach aimed to concentrate the efforts of the DAR in support services delivery to selected areas to fast track the improvement of farm productivity and social infrastructure building.

The programs original cost, estimated in 1986, was $221 billion. where 52.7 billion dollars were initially allocated As of December 1997, the total obligation incurred by the nine CARP Implementing Agencies was $44.725 billion. This represents 90% of the 49.685 billion net allotments made available from July 1987 to December 1997. Land tenure improvement accounted for 37% of total obligations (16.533), while Program Beneficiaries Development or support services accounted for 30% (16.632 billion). The remaining 33% is made up of the operational support component.

Despite the program success under this administration, there are still issues that have not been resolved, such as the following:

1. cancellation of CLTs and CLOAs; these lands should not have been covered during the Marcos and Aquino administrations because these are landowner retention areas; property was not primarily devoted to rice and corn; no tenancy relationship between CLT holder and landowner; and the land is outside the coverage program.

2. low valuation of lands wherein DAR proposed a value but the Court has the final say;

3. selling of titles but the extent to install ARBs in the awarded lands due to enforcement; and

4. integrity of DAR data in terms of land distributed, which is a carry-over from the previous administration.

However, in the course of implementing the program, there are valuable insights to it.

1. agrarian reform is a program that can be implemented in a way that it enjoys a sense of ownership by the organized farmers through their participation.

2. agrarian reform can make faster with the partnerships between among its key players; government, the farmers, the landowners and NGOs.

3. dealing with farmers’ organizations can sometimes be exasperating. However, the call for social pressure , in most of the time, resulted in an empowered peasantry that was active in making claims for gains in land distribution and support services.

4. And it is better to work within the framework of an imperfect law rather than not at all.

At the end of his administration, he enacted the following laws:

• R.A 7881,1995

Amended certain provisions of RA 6657 and exempted fishponds and prawns from the coverage of CARP.

• RA 7905, 1995

Strengthen the implementation of the CARP

• Executive order no. 363, 1997

Limits the type that may be converted by setting conditions under which limits the type of lands that may be converted by setting conditions under which specific categories of agricultural land are either absolutely non-negotiable for conversion or highly restricted for conversion.

• R.A. 8435 , 1997

(agriculture and fisheries modernization act)

Plugged the legal loopholes in land use conversion

• R.A. 8532,1998

Provide an additional 50 billion for CARP and extend its implementations for another 10 years.