tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169271208515328563.post5912252943748612405..comments2023-10-23T09:25:21.737-07:00Comments on real true stories: AGRARIAN REFORM IN THE PHILIPPINES—EVER FORWARD, NOW AND FOREVERabetojrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01490058115165192232noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169271208515328563.post-43627238671691027122013-10-15T11:45:43.964-07:002013-10-15T11:45:43.964-07:00I'm sorry to disagree. Corruption & Agrari...I'm sorry to disagree. Corruption & Agrarian Reform are basic benchmarks of 3rd world countries. Those are 2 prevalent characteristics of the PI. Taking land from the rightful owners and giving to others is wrong. Property rights are the staple of any developed country and the Philippines is very far from that. <br />Stating farmers are entitled to the lands they til is equivalent to stating the fisherman are entitled to own beaches or factory workers can own the land the factory sits on. CHOOSING to work somewhere does not entitle you to ownership. <br />Further, it is very difficult to find any gov't department in the Philippines that is not corrupt and the DAR is no exception. The DAR takes land away from unwilling property owners and they may give portions to the actual tenants. However, they are more likely to give land to their friends, families, or other people they are conspiring with. I myself have seen a DAR employee driving a vehicle very out of range with his pay scale. If someone pays their taxes and does not want to sell their land, there is nothing left to argue. <br />The DAR has proven time and time again to be a failure as food production significantly decreases and inflation increases. So these farmers who now have a piece of land now have soaring food prices with less arable land to farm. <br />Most farmers do not have enough of an education or experience to understand costs, taxes, labor, or foresight to plan against disasters. They simply understand they have been given land and then each little plot turns into a shanty home that keeps expanding while the arable land decreases. The other farmers either sell their land to a developer, or person looking to build a home. Then the remaining farmers take out loans against their land at 50% the value to buy motorbikes or go on spending sprees. These farmers do not understand the terms of the loan, the land is repossessed by the bank and it is later sold again to a developer or person looking to build. <br />Now, there are plenty of lands where people have not paid taxes, have been repossessed, or the politician/ gov't worker owner found guilty of corruption are very good substitutes. <br />Finally, I am very against the exploitation of farmers. Many laws could be implemented to protect the farmer against exploitation. Laws can be implemented for farmers to share in a piece of the proceeds. That would benefit everyone involved, but there would have to be a TRUSTED gov't program to oversee the farmers are not exploited. <br />The current system of AR is a complete failure. There may be success stories here and there, but it comes at a great cost to all. Quite frankly the DAR system is overly corrupt like all go'vt departments in the PI. There is a true lack of concern for the actual people and it is just another group of gov't workers taking part in the overall kleptocracy. It is simply a political tool to buy votes in the disguise of helping while underhandedly exploiting them. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7169271208515328563.post-35237300446935290342012-06-03T19:38:21.271-07:002012-06-03T19:38:21.271-07:00thank you sir for these post.. i was once a legal ...thank you sir for these post.. i was once a legal officer of DAR North Bukidnon, i went out of DAR in the year 2006 (the DAR Bukidnon was not divided yet) hence, not anymore familiar with the CARPER... reading your post made me become aware of what i was, what i did for the sake of social justice and how my work at DAR had so much influence of what i am doing today.. again thank you for helping me come up with such realizationlynnpanulayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13601717593983688876noreply@blogger.com