Balaod Mindanaw, an alliance of church-backed farmers' organizations, said it is happy over the result of the bicameral committee meeting that merged the provisions of House Bill 4077 and Senate Bill 2666 to come up with the law covering the five-year extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

In a recent memorandum to its members, Balaod Mindanaw executive trustee Kaka J. Bag-ao said that 17 provisions the bill yet to be signed into law covered the P150 billion budget for five years, well below the P250 billion needed to purchase landlord properties and distribute the same to millions of farmers over the same period.

The measure also created an oversight committee to look into how the funds intended for agrarian reform are being spent, with legislators vowing to be eagle-eyed in monitoring every peso spent for the program.

Even as the farmers are pleased with the final version of the measure, they are still wary about provisions that give priority to lessees and regular farm workers in the distribution of three hectares as award and the attestation by landowners that the beneficiaries are actually their tenants and farm workers since landlords could easily terminate tenants and farm workers and consider them as having lost their rights to own and possess any property covered by agrarian reform.

Undersecretary Narciso Nieto of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said P50 billion annually is needed to finance the compulsory acquisition (CA) of land and the payment of properties under the voluntary offer to sell (VOS) scheme.

Bag-ao added that the measure also bans voluntary land transfers (VLTs) after June 30, 2009 and institutionalizes only the CA and VOS modes for asset reform.

A key provision is the priority given to the breakup of big landholdings and their distribution to farmers.

Moreover, the legal personality of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) will be recognized for CARP implementation and agrarian disputes, thus doing away with suits and countersuits over their legitimacy for any legal action.

The bicameral committee also did away with the proposal to transfer the jurisdiction over agrarian disputes to regional trial courts (RTCs) or other venues as suggested by Sen. Edgardo Angara. All agrarian disputes will now be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the DAR Adjudication Board (DARAB).

To add more teeth to the DAR in implementing the land acquisition and distribution (LAD) component of CARPER, the department will now be immune from preliminary injunctions (PIs) and temporary restraining orders (TROs) from the courts.

Under the measure, all irrigated and irrigable lands will not be subject to any land conversion. Areas categorized as aquaculture zones are no longer exempt from agrarian reform.

Credit and initial capitalization subsidy for new and existing beneficiaries are also covered by the new measure and the payment of amortization will be made one year after occupancy as opposed to one year after the award. It means there must be physical control of the land first before any payment is made.

Another importance amendment to the law is the removal of squatting as a case against ARBs.