Groups demand end to CARP on its 38th anniversary

By Juliane Judilla

Farmers, peasant advocates, and progressive organizations staged a picket protest in front of Jaro Metropolitan Church on June 10, marking the 38th anniversary of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), to demand the law’s abolition and the implementation of what they called genuine agrarian reform.

The protest was led by Paghugpong sang mga Mangunguma sa Panay kag Guimaras (PAMANGGAS), which criticized the agrarian reform program enacted under former President Corazon Aquino.

“We are here today because, even after 38 years of CARP, genuine land reform has yet to be achieved,” said Lucia Capaducio, chairperson of PAMANGGAS.

“Although Republic Act 11953, also known as the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, promised the condonation of farmers’ debts, this has not fully materialized despite the passage of many years,” she added.

PAMANGGAS called for an end to large-scale land-use conversion, which the group says continues to displace farming communities and shrink agricultural lands.

The group also criticized the Jalaur Mega Dam project in Iloilo, arguing that while it was promoted as an irrigation project, it has displaced Indigenous Tumandok communities and converted agricultural lands.

PAMANGGAS reiterated its demand for genuine agrarian reform and the free distribution of land to farmers.

The group also denounced the Department of Agrarian Reform’s Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) project, describing it as a program that weakens farmers’ collective unity.

According to PAMANGGAS, the project creates the impression that more beneficiaries are receiving land titles when, in reality, collective Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) won through years of struggle are merely being subdivided into individual titles.

The group further argued that farmers continue to bear land amortization payments despite persistent agricultural crises, with many unable to sustain those payments due to low farm incomes — ultimately losing their land.

Ahead of the protest, PAMANGGAS formally launched the “Hands Off Lucia Capaducio” (HOLC) campaign, citing what it described as increasing militarization in rural communities and intensified surveillance of peasant leaders.

The group stressed that defending land rights must go hand in hand with protecting farmers’ fundamental rights to express dissent, organize, and mobilize.

“The government fails to hold corrupt land grabbers accountable, while farmers are being killed, stripped of their land, red-tagged, and forced to survive on meager budgets and limited assistance,” Capaducio said.

“Yet it is these same farmers who work to feed not only their families but the entire Filipino nation,” she added.

PAMANGGAS and allied organizations urged the government to address long-standing issues in land distribution and agricultural development, stressing that meaningful agrarian reform remains essential to improving the lives of Filipino farmers.