Agrarian Reform in the Philippines

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Volume

V

No. 3

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lib II

MayII I

June 1987

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Agrarian Reform in the Philippines i

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' ' ! EDITOR'S NOTE: No other tsme since the EDSA revolution has _ bitterly polarized the Philippine society than the proposed agrarian reform program. A_ we go to press_ the President is on the verge of signing a land reform order amMst emotional condemnations by both the landless and landowners, The landless,..its supposed beneficiary, spearheaded by the militant peasant organization, the Kilusang Magbubuldd ng Pili. pinas (KMP) have denounced the "watered down" version of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) as no better than the failed Marcos-initiated progrant On the other hand, the landowners have issued an impassioned threat of civil disorder should the order be signed and implemented In a more ob/ective tone, Dr. MaLAgnes R. Quisumbing, our guestwriter for this issue, tries to sort out the conflicting issues and interests based from her numerous exposure on the land reform ism_ Dr. QuisumbingtsatpresentAssistantPro[essorat the University of the Philippines' School of Economics. She has done varied studies on Philippine agriculture and development, and of late, co.authored the section on land reform in An Agenda for Action for the Philippine Rural Sector by the Agricultu_l Policy and Strategy Team; and again a co-tmthor o1"the raonogrffph In Search of a Land Reform Design for the Philippines done this year by the UP Los Baffos AgriculturalPolicy Research Program. Dr. Quisumbing reiterates her belief that land reform must be enacted before Congress convenes in July. One notes that even the conservative Catholic Church has thrown its support to this stand..But beyond the question of when looms a.btgger concern: Will it be a genuine land reform? Political observers believe that the answer to this indicates the course which the Aquino government is and may have been taldng since it was swept to where it is now by the original people power,

ISSN 0115-9097

present administration has empha-

rural development as a,focal point of its development strategy. Agriculture has been viewed as the sector which will lead both short-term recovery and longrun growth. However, the prospects for sustainable growth in the agricultural sector are hampered by the highly skewed distribution of landholdings which constitute a barrier to social and political stability as well as to the dual goals of equity and efficiency. More specifically, an agriculture-led, employment-oriented development strategy without a significant land reform program will not lead to a strong positive impact on the rural poor, nor will it lead to sustained broadbased rural development (Day/d, 1986: 1.4). Moreover, the agriculture growth process itself runs the risk of exacerbating that inequality, since benefits from new technology, irrigation, and market infrastrueture tend to be capitalized into higher land values, to the benefit of present landowners. Finally, the existing insurgency problem can be traced to the people's perception of social injustice, and this will only worsen ff redistributive structural refo-fius are not undertaken.

CONTENTS

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Agrarian Reform in the Philippines .................................................... PIDS Working Papers ................................................................ P I DS Staff Papers

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UPDATE New Publications Seminars Forthcoming Seminars .........

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