2,086 agrarian reform beneficiaries in CAR to benefit on land payment moratorium

Tabuk City, Kalinga – Some 2,086 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) in Cordillera region are expected to benefit from the one-year moratorium on land amortization and interest payments on agricultural lands they acquired from Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Under Section 26 of Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988, ARBs are required to pay 30 annual amortizations at six percent interest per annum of the land distributed to them.

However, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed on September 13 the Executive Order No. 4 series of 2022 imposing a one-year moratorium on the land amortization and interest payments of farmer beneficiaries to unburden the farmers from their loans and interests.

On Thursday, September 29, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Land Bank of the Philippines issued Joint Administrative Order, providing the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of said order.

The implementing guidelines state that the moratorium covers the payment of the Principal Value and the Annual Interest Due and payable by the ARBs.

According to Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III, “the one-year moratorium period will provide the needed time for Congress to pass the law condoning the existing agrarian reform loans for the current ARBs and free land distribution for future beneficiaries.”

In Cordillera, Kalinga province has the highest beneficiaries with 1,416 followed by Ifugao with 326; Apayao with 266; Mt. Province with 35; Benguet with 22; and Abra with 21.

“Ma-unburden da ti utang nga imbes na nag-iisip sila ng pambayad nila sa lupa, i-maximize nalang nila yung productivity ng farm nila,” said DAR-CAR OIC Regional Director, Estrellita Briones.

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