Category: The Economy

PH paradox: Undernourished children, overnourished adults

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UNDERNOURISHED children, overnourished adults — that is “the double burden of malnutrition” that afflicts the Philippines.

A paradox, indeed, in a highly agricultural economy, which should be producing food in abundance. To this day, however, many Filipinos do not have access to proper nutrition and adequate food supply, government data show.

In fact, according to Dr. Cecilia S.Acuin of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), the Philippines confronts a “double burden of malnutrition” – under-nutrition among children and overnutrition among adults.

She cited sad figures.

* Among Filipinos aged 0 to 5, one of every five (20 percent) is underweight; one of every three (30 percent) is under-height or does not meet the ideal height for their age; and 8 percent are “wasted” or underweight for their height.

* Among Filipinos aged 20 and above, one of every three (31 PERCENT) is overweight or obese; one of every five (22 percent) “have high waist circumference”; and three of every five (62 percent) have high waist-hip ratio.

The over-nutrition of Filipino adults, she said, has resulted from a bad combination of “increasing physical inactivity” and “poor diet” — the low intake of fruits and vegetables and the increasing intake of “energy-dense food.”

Acuin, at a forum organized last week by Greenpeace-Southeast Asia on the theme “Is there is a Food Emergency in the Philippines?” said that this double burden of malnutrition has led to micronutrient deficiencies.

These include anemia, which remains “a problem in vulnerable population groups” like children and pregnant and lactating women, as well as iodine-deficiency disorders, which are “a problem in pockets of the country.” Across the nation though, anemia and iodine deficiency incidence is declining, she said.

According to Acuin, household food intake patterns in the country have started to change for the worse.

While the typical Filipino meal is still rice, fish, and vegetables, the FNRI’s surveys have shown “an increasing trend for meat and poultry” but also “a declining trend for fruits and vegetables.” Filipinos, she said, are eating less and less fruits and vegetables on account of price, supply, and availability concerns.

Filipinos are eating “more energy-dense food”, Acuin added, but still the consumption of recommended energy is low for 30 percent of households, and even among the wealthy who can afford energy-dense food, “only 40 percent are meeting energy requirements.”

So is there a food emergency situation in the country? Acuin’s summary observations are gloomy. She said: “Food intakes, in general, are inadequate” and an “inequitable distribution of food resources” persists.

“Ang mga kundisyon na ito ay hindi bago, matagal na ito… Kung pagbabasehan yung Millennium Development Goals, wala pagbabago mula noong mga year 2000 ang underweight prevalence natin in children. Samantala, yung overweight at obesity sa adults ay tumataas,” Acuin said. [These conditions are not new. If we base it on the Millennium Development Goals, underweight prevalence among children has been steady since 2000. Meanwhile, overweight and obesity in adults are on the rise.]

Bernadette Balamban, Poverty and Human Development Statistics chief of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) offered insights on how malnutrition takes root and derives from poverty.

As of the first half of 2014, PSA showed that a family of five needed at least P6,125 a month on average to meet basic food needs, and at least P8,778 a month on average to meet both basic food and non-food needs. However, still eight of every 100 families earn less than the minimum income to afford even basic food needs.

Meanwhile, Neden Amiel Sarne, Agricultural Commodities Division chief of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said achieving food security “requires investments in strategic programs and policies and putting in place appropriate policies.”

The Philippines’ food policy, he said, “should aim to achieve inclusive access to food while generating long-term sources of productivity and income growth.”

According to Sarne, access and price are the strategic issues. “What matters more to food security is access to food at the household level and at reasonably competitive process.”

Sarne listed “suggested strategies beyond 2016″ to address food security and malnutrition concerns, including:

* “Investments in agriculture and fisheries programs that promote area-based development (in contrast to commodity-based development);

* “Prioritize investments that can increase and sustain productivity;

* “Investments in well-functioning irrigation systems and well-functioning Infrastructure;

* “Investments to increase resilience to climate-risk disasters, as well as to pests and diseases;

* “Promote further productivity enhancement along the entire supply chain, from production to marketing; and

* “Promote greater private sector investments support for agriculture through agri-business schemes such as contract-growing, joint-venture agreements, etc.”

About 150 students, civil society organization leaders, and government representatives attended the forum organized by Greenpeace-Southeast Asia at the UP Bahay ng Alumni in Diliman last week. PCIJ Executive Director Malou Mangahas served as moderator. – With reporting by Vino Lucero, PCIJ, August 2015

PH paradox: Undernourished children, overnourished adults

mcmangahas Leave a comment

UNDERNOURISHED children, overnourished adults — that is “the double burden of malnutrition” that afflicts the Philippines.

A paradox, indeed, in a highly agricultural economy, which should be producing food in abundance. To this day, however, many Filipinos do not have access to proper nutrition and adequate food supply, government data show.

In fact, according to Dr. Cecilia S.Acuin of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), the Philippines confronts a “double burden of malnutrition” – under-nutrition among children and overnutrition among adults.

She cited sad figures.

* Among Filipinos aged 0 to 5, one of every five (20 percent) is underweight; one of every three (30 percent) is under-height or does not meet the ideal height for their age; and 8 percent are “wasted” or underweight for their height.

* Among Filipinos aged 20 and above, one of every three (31 PERCENT) is overweight or obese; one of every five (22 percent) “have high waist circumference”; and three of every five (62 percent) have high waist-hip ratio.

The over-nutrition of Filipino adults, she said, has resulted from a bad combination of “increasing physical inactivity” and “poor diet” — the low intake of fruits and vegetables and the increasing intake of “energy-dense food.”

Acuin, at a forum organized last week by Greenpeace-Southeast Asia on the theme “Is there is a Food Emergency in the Philippines?” said that this double burden of malnutrition has led to micronutrient deficiencies.

These include anemia, which remains “a problem in vulnerable population groups” like children and pregnant and lactating women, as well as iodine-deficiency disorders, which are “a problem in pockets of the country.” Across the nation though, anemia and iodine deficiency incidence is declining, she said.

According to Acuin, household food intake patterns in the country have started to change for the worse.

While the typical Filipino meal is still rice, fish, and vegetables, the FNRI’s surveys have shown “an increasing trend for meat and poultry” but also “a declining trend for fruits and vegetables.” Filipinos, she said, are eating less and less fruits and vegetables on account of price, supply, and availability concerns.

Filipinos are eating “more energy-dense food”, Acuin added, but still the consumption of recommended energy is low for 30 percent of households, and even among the wealthy who can afford energy-dense food, “only 40 percent are meeting energy requirements.”

So is there a food emergency situation in the country? Acuin’s summary observations are gloomy. She said: “Food intakes, in general, are inadequate” and an “inequitable distribution of food resources” persists.

“Ang mga kundisyon na ito ay hindi bago, matagal na ito… Kung pagbabasehan yung Millennium Development Goals, wala pagbabago mula noong mga year 2000 ang underweight prevalence natin in children. Samantala, yung overweight at obesity sa adults ay tumataas,” Acuin said. [These conditions are not new. If we base it on the Millennium Development Goals, underweight prevalence among children has been steady since 2000. Meanwhile, overweight and obesity in adults are on the rise.]

Bernadette Balamban, Poverty and Human Development Statistics chief of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) offered insights on how malnutrition takes root and derives from poverty.

As of the first half of 2014, PSA showed that a family of five needed at least P6,125 a month on average to meet basic food needs, and at least P8,778 a month on average to meet both basic food and non-food needs. However, still eight of every 100 families earn less than the minimum income to afford even basic food needs.

Meanwhile, Neden Amiel Sarne, Agricultural Commodities Division chief of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said achieving food security “requires investments in strategic programs and policies and putting in place appropriate policies.”

The Philippines’ food policy, he said, “should aim to achieve inclusive access to food while generating long-term sources of productivity and income growth.”

According to Sarne, access and price are the strategic issues. “What matters more to food security is access to food at the household level and at reasonably competitive process.”

Sarne listed “suggested strategies beyond 2016″ to address food security and malnutrition concerns, including:

* “Investments in agriculture and fisheries programs that promote area-based development (in contrast to commodity-based development);

* “Prioritize investments that can increase and sustain productivity;

* “Investments in well-functioning irrigation systems and well-functioning Infrastructure;

* “Investments to increase resilience to climate-risk disasters, as well as to pests and diseases;

* “Promote further productivity enhancement along the entire supply chain, from production to marketing; and

* “Promote greater private sector investments support for agriculture through agri-business schemes such as contract-growing, joint-venture agreements, etc.”

About 150 students, civil society organization leaders, and government representatives attended the forum organized by Greenpeace-Southeast Asia at the UP Bahay ng Alumni in Diliman last week. PCIJ Executive Director Malou Mangahas served as moderator. – With reporting by Vino Lucero, PCIJ, August 2015

UN: World population to hit 8.5B in 2030; India may surpass China

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THE WORLD’S POPULATION is projected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050, and exceed 11 billion in 2100, according to a new United Nations report.

The report, 2015 Revision of World Population Prospects, the 24th round of official UN population estimates and projections, says India is expected to surpass China as the most populous country in seven years.

Nigeria is also seen to overtake the United States to become the world’s third largest country around 35 years from now.

A UN press advisory noted that the 2015-2050 period, half of the world’s population growth is expected to be concentrated in nine countries: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the United States, Indonesia, and Uganda.

Wu Hongbo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, whose department produced the report said that understanding the demographic changes that are likely to unfold over the coming years “is key to the design and implementation of the new development agenda.”

The UN member-states, the advisory said, are currently in the process of crafting a successor agenda to the landmark Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which wrap up at the end of this year.

A new framework, focused on poverty eradication, social inclusion, and preserving the health of the planet, is set to be adopted at a special UN summit, in New York this September.

According to the report’s projections, “most of the projected increase in the world’s population can be attributed to a short list of high-fertility countries, mainly in Africa, or countries with already large populations.”

“At present, China and India remain the two largest countries in the world, each with more than 1 billion people, representing 19 and 18 per cent of the world’s population, respectively, but by 2022, the population of India is expected to surpass that of China, according to the report’s projection,” it added.

“Among the 10 largest countries in the world currently, one is in Africa (Nigeria), five are in Asia (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan), two are in Latin America (Brazil and Mexico), one is in Northern America (US), and one is in
Europe (Russian Federation),” the UN said.

“Of these,Nigeria’s population, currently the seventh largest in the world, is growing the most rapidly,” said the report.

The report also projected that “by 2050, the populations of six countries are expected to exceed 300 million: China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the United States.”

“And with the highest rate of population growth, Africa is expected to account for more than half of the world’s population growth over the next 35 years,” it added.

During this period, the report said, “the populations of 28 African countries are projected to more than double, and by 2100, 10 African countries are projected to have increased by at least a factor of five: Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia.”

“The concentration of population growth in the poorest countries presents its own set of challenges, making it more difficult to eradicate poverty and inequality, to combat hunger and malnutrition, and to expand educational enrolment and health systems, all of which are crucial to the success of the new sustainable development agenda,” said John Wilmoth, Director of the UN’s Population Division.

In contrast to the growth projections, the report noted “a significant ageing of the population in the next several decades” for most regions. These include Europe, where 34 per cent of the population is projected to be over 60 years old by 2050. In Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia, “the population will be transformed from having 11 per cent to 12 per cent of people over 60 years old today to more than 25 per cent by 2050.”

Too, the UN report said, “life expectancy at birth has increased significantly in the least developed countries in recent years.”

The six-year average gain in life expectancy among the poorest countries, from 56 years in 2000-2005 to 62 years in 2010-2015, is roughly double the increase recorded for the rest of the world, the report added.

“While significant differences in life expectancy across major areas and income groups are projected to continue, they are expected to diminish significantly by 2045-2050,” the UN said.

PNoy’s promises still ‘in progress’

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By Rowena F. Caronan

FIVE YEARS AGO, when President Benigno S. Aquino III delivered his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), he made specific policy promises on economic reforms and job creation – on top of his overall promise of change: “Daang Matuwid” and “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.”

Five years hence, Aquino’s SONA promises and those laid down in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) for 2010-2016 are still a work in progress. In all of the targets he has sworn to achieve, he is falling behind the natural deadline of his presidency that comes on June 30, 2016.

The Aquino government has secured credit ratigs upgrade for achieving record economic growth yet still, that growth has yet to turn inclusive and trigger jobs of sufficient quality and quantity for the Filipino poor.

Interviewed on the ABS-CBN News Channel, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan justified that no country or political administration has so far eliminated poverty and unemployment.

The promises he made

In his 2010 SONA, Aquino laid out his blueprint for job creation by boosting growth in the industry and streamlining business processes.

A year later, through his social contract, Aquino promised a government that prioritizes jobs that empowers Filipinos and provide them with opportunities to rise above poverty. He also said his government would create jobs at home so working abroad will be a choice rather than necessity. He promised to prioritize welfare and protection of those who choose overseas work.

More specifically, the Aquino administration’s PDP sought to reduce the number of poor Filipinos to 18 percent of the population, maintain an average economic growth of at least 7.5 percent annually, generate employment of one million per year, and reduce the unemployment rate to 6.5 percent by the end of his term in 2016.

What he has achieved so far

From 2011 to 2014, Aquino had boasted in his SONA credit ratings upgrades, and record runs of the stock market as evidence of a strong economy. This meant, he had explained, that the government could borrow funds for programs and projects at lower interest rates and more business would be attracted to invest in the country.

In his 2011 and 2012 SONAs, Aquino said his government had delivered on reducing the number of unemployed Filipinos. He said, “Is it not an apt time for us to dream of a day where any Filipino who wishes to work can find a job?”

In his 2013 SONA, Aquino reported additional jobs created in the BPO (business processing outsourcing) sector. He said: “Back in the year 2000, only 5,000 people were employed in this industry. Fast forward to 2011: 638,000 people are employed by BPOs, and the industry has contributed 11 billion dollars to our economy.”

In 2014, Aquino praised Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz for adopting better labor resolution practices that helped reduce the number of labor strikes to less than 10 during that year.

He said: “Consider this: According to the National Conciliation and Mediation Board, since 2010, the number of strikes per year has been limited to less than ten. This is the positive result of the Department of Labor and Employment’s Single entry Approach, or SEnA, through which filed labor cases go through a 30-day conciliation-mediation period. The good news: out of 115 notices of strike and lockout in 2013, only one pushed through. This is the lowest number of strikes in the history of DOLE.”

The Aquino Presidency: Promises vs. Results

1. Reduce the number of poor Filipinos to 18 percent by 2016 – In progress

The poverty incidence among Filipinos (25.8 percent) in the first quarter of 2014 is still far from the target of 18 percent by 2016. In fact, this estimate by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shows an increase from the 24.6 percent in the same period last year.

PSA noted that the 2013 poverty estimate had been revised for consistency with the 2014 poverty estimates, which was based on the 2014 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey and did not include sample households from Batanes and Leyte.

2. Sustain economic growth of at least 7 percent for the five-year period – In progress

The annual growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) averaged 6.3 percent from 2010 to 2014. The only time that the government has met its target of at least 7 percent annual GDP growth rate was in 2013.

In the first quarter of 2015, growth of the domestic economy slowed down to 5.2 from 5.6 percent in the same period last year.

In a statement, Balisacan explained that the “slower-than-programmed pace of public spending, particularly the decline in public construction” slowed the growth of the economy. Balisacan, however, said that the economy is expected to grow faster in the remaining quarters.

3. Increase the annual average output of different sectors for the five-year period: agriculture, fishery and forestry (2.5 percent to 3.5 percent), industry (9.3 percent to 10.3 percent), services (7.2 percent to 8.1 percent) – In progress

But while the government managed to increase the share of industry to the economic growth, it failed to do the same for the services, and agriculture and fishery sectors, which represent the poorest sectors.

Annual Gross Value Added (GVA) in industry grew by 8 percent on average from 2011 to 2013. But the agriculture, fishery, and forestry sectors grew only by 2 percent on average from 2010 to 2014.

According to the 2014 Socioeconomic Report of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the agriculture and fishery sectors had to grow “by an average of 10.8 percent for the remaining period (2015-2016) to achieve the lower-end target.”

Meanwhile, the government met its target for the services sector when it hit a 7.41-percent increase in 2012. But the services sector grew only by 6.62 percent on average from 2011 to 2014. In the first quarter of 2015, it grew by 5.6 percent compared with the same period last year.

4. Create a resilient external sector by increasing the share of the export industry to 51.6 percent of the economic growth and the value of merchandise exports to US$109.4 billion by 2016 – In progress

On average, exports represent 29.6 percent of the Nominal Gross Domestic Product from 2011 to 2014. The lowest rates were recorded in 2013 and 2014 at 28 percent and 28.7 percent, respectively.

Moreover, sales receipts from merchandise exports had continued to grow below the target. In 2014, total merchandise exports were valued at $61.8 billion or more than $7 billion short of the downscaled target.

5. Generate employment of one million annually and reduce the unemployment rate as low as 6.8 percent by 2016 – In progress

As of April 2015, the unemployment rate currently stands at 6.4 percent or above the government’s target. In 2014, the annual unemployment rate was estimated at 6.8 percent.

However, the employment generation from 2011 to 2014 had fall short of the target. Employment expanded from 36 million in 2010 to 38.7 million in 2014, with an average increase of 654,000. The 1-million annual target was reached only in 2011; employment generation dropped to about 500,000 in the following years.

According to Ibon Foundation, “comparable official figures for April 2015 clearly show the quality of work deteriorating.”

“The number of contractual and other workers in insecure and poorly-paid work has been increasing in the last two years. As of April 2015, 15.5 million or 40 percent of employed Filipinos were in just part-time work with likely very low pay and scant benefits.” – PCIJ, July 27, 2015

CARP, CARPER: Failing, falling, dead?

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TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS after the Philippine government launched agrarian reform in 1988 as its paramount social justice program, a significant majority of Filipino farmers have yet to own the land that they have been tilling for ages.

Innumerable problems, not least of them land survey issues, resistance from landowners, problematic documents and titles, and concerns of agrarian reform beneficiaries, keep pulling back results to insignificant numbers and impact.

Poverty remains the scourge of more than 1 in every three farmers, who count among the poorest of the poor sectors of the nation.

Fishermen, farmers, and children have consistently posted the highest poverty incidence among the nine basic sectors in the Philippines in 2012 — at 39.2 percent, 38.3 percent, and 35.2 percent, respectively — according to the National Statistical Coordination Board.

The three sectors, including the self-employed and unpaid family workers and women, have higher poverty incidence rates than the general population estimated at 25.2 percent in 2012, NSCB said.

Huge backlog

Indeed, a generation and seven years after its launch, agrarian reform’s backlog remains huge, and seemingly insurmountable.

The Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department of the House of Representatives, citing data from the Department of Agrarian Reform, reported that as of July 1, 2009, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) “has yet to distribute the remaining balance of 1.6 million hectares to 1.2 million farmer beneficiaries.”

“Of the remaining balance, 60.08 percent (965,798 hectares) were private agricultural lands and 4.28 percent (68,863 hectares) are non-private agricultural lands under the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR),” it added.

Meanwhile, as of the same date, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) “has a remaining balance of 572.902 hectares to be distributed to 645,443 farmer beneficiaries.”

In 2009, CARP’s life was extended by CARPER, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reform. It received a budgetary support of at least P150 billion but also hardly improved land reform’s accomplishment numbers by leaps and bounds.

From July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2014, CARPER “has distributed a total of 1,052,259 hectares of land to 897,648 farmer beneficiaries of which 43.2 percent (454,134 hectares) are public arable and disposable lands and 22.1 percent (232,400 hectares) are privately owned lands.”

Yet still, “most of the distributed privately owned land are classified as voluntary land transfers (VLT), which is around 119,660 hectares, and only 48,184 ha. (4.6 percent) were distributed through compulsory acquisition.”

DENR on the other hand “distributed a total of 469,268 hectares arable and disposable lands to 549,169 farmer beneficiaries.”

A big balance of land for acquisition and distribution to farmers remains after 27 years of land reform, a period spanning the rule of the first to the second Aquino administrations.

As of June 30, 2014, the report said DAR has yet to distribute a total of 726, 421 hectares.

Compulsory vs. voluntary

By land type, lands under compulsory acquisition pose the biggest challenge at around 479,488 hectares or 66 percent of the total land left for distribution, even as the balance of voluntary offer to sell lands remain at only 112,681 hectares (15.5 percent).

The regions with the biggest land balance for distribution are those with significant hacendado and political clan presence — the Western Visayas, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, ARMM, the Bicol Region, SOCCKSARGEN (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos City, Eastern Visayas, Cagayan Valley.

CARP under the implementation of the DENR has yet to distribute a total of 33,171 hectares of public arable and disposable lands.


As of June 30, 2014, Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes, in testimony before Congress, said the following issues hound “problematic landholdings” under agrarian reform:

* ARB (agrarian reform beneficiaries0 Issues, 14,094 cases
* Basic Document Infirmities, 31,294
* Coverage Issues, 24,824
* For Reconstitution of Title, 29,001
* For Reissuance of Lost ODC of Title, 4,045
* Landowner Issues, 34,294
* LBP (LandBank of the Philippines) Issues, 2,456
* Peace and Order Issues, 6,717
* Survey Issues, 43,978

Government helpless?

Social justice through agrarian reform remains an elusive promise to a great number of Filipino farmers.

But most tragic of all, even the combined resources of national government agencies have sometimes proved useless, in the face of fierce landlord resistance to land reform.

A curious case in point is that of the coconut farmers of Hacienda Matias in Bondoc Peninsula, Quezon province.

The property is a coconut plantation in San Francisco, Quezon province, which spans 1,715.983 hectares. In December 2014, the government awarded Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) to a total of 283 agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) of Hacienda Matias.

An “inter-agency task force” composed of the DAR, Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Justice (DOJ), and the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), with support from the Philippine National Police (PNP), and Philippine Army, was formed to install the ARBs on May 15, 2015.

The pooled might and resources of government’s civilian agencies and uniformed agencies failed to achieve that. The owners of Hacienda Matias resisted, backed by armed men they have deployed across the hacienda’s perimeters, rendering the farmers’ CLOAs paper without weight or worth.

“Aanhin namin ang CLOA kung wala naman kami doon sa lupa,” Maribel Ausa Luzara, president of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bondoc Peninsula (KMBP), told the PCIJ. She is one of the 283 CLOA holders of Hacienda Matias.

Luzara said all the points of agreement that the farmers have forged with the “task force” of national agencies prior to ARBs’ installation inside Hacienda Matias did not come to fruition.

The task force’s failure has prompted the farmers to pitch camp in front of the national headquarters of DAR in Quezon City a fortnight ago.

Should the next attempt of the interagency task force to install the Hacienda Matias farmers fail again, Luzara said the KMBP members plan to just return their CLOAs to DAR en massé.

Inertia, areglo

In the view of National Anti-Poverty Commission Secretary Jose Eliseo M. Rocamora, “inertia” seems to hound a number of government’s programs, including its asset reform initiatives like agrarian reform.

NAPC, Rocamora said, has been assisting the KMBP farmers in their quest for land and in “pressuring” the DAR to make good on its promise of successful installation.

“Pinaka-importanteng obstacle ng mga programa ng gobyerno, asset reform man ‘yan o iba ay inertia. Either binayaran ang bureaucrat o takot makasuhan,” Rocamora told reporters in a press briefing on June 2, 2015.
[Inertia is the most significant obstacle to government's programs. It's either the bureaucrat has been bribed or threatened with cases.]

In jest, he added, the problem is public officials have to deal with “criminal law, civil law, at areglo (compromises).”

The Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes (PNFSP) and the Kilusan ng Magbubukid sa Pilipinas (KMP) have repeatedly pointed out a simple farmer to land ratio 27 years since CARP was enacted. Until now, seven of ten farmers in the Philippines still do not own the land they are tilling.

CARP’s backlog triggered the passage of Republic Act No. 9700, Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reform (CARPER), which extended the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) program for another five years ending June 30, 2014.

A study commissioned by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in 2011 titled: “Commercial pressures on land in Asia: An overview,” CARP had included in its implementation schemes “such as the voluntary land transfer (VLT) provided a convenient solution for landed families to keep their lands.”

“The new law (CARPER) eliminated the VLT scheme and made compulsory acquisition the primary mode of acquisition. Despite the extension and adaptation of CARP, much opposition is expected from landed elites who wield power over government policies,” the IFAD study, funded in cooperation with the International Land Coalition (ILC), read in part.

Agrarian Reform Commission

Amid the still significant backlog of agrarian reform beyond the life of both CARP and CARPER, Rep. Leni Gerona-Robredo of Camarines Sur and Rep. Kaka J. Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands have introduced House Bill No. 4375, which seeks to create an Agrarian Reform Commission.

“It is, therefore, necessary for this purpose to create an independent Commission with legal powers of subpoena and of contempt, and with the cooperation of other relevant government agencies, to review the actual accomplishments of CARP/CARPER and to investigate circumventions and violations of the law and cause these lands to be compulsory acquired and distributed to qualified beneficiaries,” the proposed bill’s explanatory note read in part.

Groups of farmers aligned with Sulong CARPER coalition have expressed support for the bill, saying the “landed elite have maneuvered to make circumventions (in CARP/CARPER) possible.”

Sulong CARPER is a national multi-sectoral alliance led by peasants and religious groups. The KMBP is a member-organization of the alliance.

Luzara of the Hacienda Matias farmers’ group said Congress must ensure that government will crackdown on such circumventions by passing HB 4375. – With reporting and research by Cong B. Corrales, PCIJ, June 2015