Freeing the tiller from the soil that he toils.
This has been one of the fundamental goals of most democratic nations.
In our part of the world, agrarian emancipation still continues to be an ongoing process nearly half a century after President Ferdinand R. Marcos’ father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., implemented the country’s agrarian reform program to free the Pinoy tiller and nurture social justice among rural communities and fuel progress and economic development in the grassroots.
However, due to various factors such as inefficiency, lack of prioritization, strife, and political apathy, land emancipation became a slow and arduous process with hundreds of thousands of farmers still awaiting the fulfilment of their dreams of owning a land they can call their own.
Today, it would seem it will be the son who will fulfill his father’s dream of completely freeing the Filipino still shackled to the land that he tills.
It is a historical concession that the Philippine demographic condition has been anchored for centuries by feudalistic colonialism, a legacy of the Spanish Crown that has left an indelible mark on the nation’s rural populace.
This enduring narrative is one of impoverished tenant farmers toiling under the shadow of powerful local landlords, a stark socioeconomic disparity that persisted even after World War II.
The Birth of Agrarian Reform
Enter the era of President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., whose vision for a transformed nation was encapsulated in his “New Society” or Bagong Lipunan. It was here that the seeds of change were sown with the proclamation of the entire country as a land reform area, and the beginning of the Agrarian Reform Program.
This monumental shift was aimed at dismantling the archaic structures that had kept the rural poor in bondage to the land.
Emancipation post-Marcos Senior might not have been totally neglected. It just suffered from lurches and stagnations due to political and social complexities some land distribution could entail.
The program was reinforced by President Corazon C. Aquino, with the ratification of the 1987 Philippine Constitution and the signing of the landmark Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) which created the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) was a banner under which hopeful farmers and landless farmworkers would march towards a future of ownership and empowerment.
In the nearly four decades since its inception, CARP has touched the lives of millions of farmers and farmworkers. Land, once the exclusive domain of the few, has been parceled out to the many, a testament to the government’s pledge to uproot the deep-seated inequalities of the past.
In 2020, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) reported that the government has given out 4.9 million hectares of land, which comprise more than 90 percent of its target.
The Agency’s data shows that the pieces of land were distributed to around 2.8 million Filipino farmers across the country.
Gov’t help doesn’t stop after land distribution
Almost four decades later, what happened to CARP beneficiaries, and the lands distributed under the program?
A report from the Philippine Statistics Authority published in 2023 showed that the farmers and fisherfolk remain to have the highest poverty incidences among the basic sector in the Philippines as of 2021.
According to the PSA, the poverty incidence for the farming sector was at 30 percent, although this was an improvement compared to the figures from 2018 and 2021.
Nonetheless, the PSA report underscores the need to provide better support for farmers in the country–many of whom were beneficiaries of CARP who, through the years, have tilled the land they now own.
To locate CARP beneficiaries across the country and identify the assistance needed for them to maximize the lands they own and improve their quality of life, DAR, together with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), launched the Kumustasaka Project in September 2023.
Kumustasaka Project, derived from the Filipino phrase “Kumusta ka, magsasaka?” aims to create a system that stores the comprehensive socio-economic profile of roughly 2.8 million Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) across the country.
The web-based system would help the government validate existing ARB land ownerships, identify crops planted, and determine the support services required to enhance farm productivity.
Through the enhanced ARB database and information system, the government—particularly DAR—will be able to formulate data-driven and responsive policies and interventions the beneficiaries need to tap the fullest potential of the lands they own.
By helping ARBs improve their productivity, the government hopes that the country will be a step closer to achieving food security and self-sufficiency.
President Marcos, on several occasions, assured ARBs that government assistance does not stop after land distribution, as he called on DAR to help land distribution beneficiaries maximize their lands.
“In the same manner, ito nga ‘yung aking sinasabi ang pag-deliver nga ng mga fertilizer, ng mga makinarya, mga facilities ay makakatulong upang makamtan natin ang ating hinahanap at ating pinapangarap na magandang kinabukasan para sa ating mga magsasaka, para sa ating mga sinasaka, at para sa mga susunod na henerasyon,” he said.
Kumustasaka pilot run
The province of Pangasinan was selected as the country’s pilot site for the Kumustakasa Project since it is also where the government’s initiative Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling or Project SPLIT was launched first.
Fieldwork and data collection started in January 2024, with the project scheduled for completion by May 2025.
The project was piloted in Pangasinan, where data were collected from 3,055 ARBs residing in six municipalities: Asingan, Balungao, Rosales, Sta. Maria, Sto. Tomas, and Villasis.
Under the program, an open-source data collection app was utilized to gather information directly from ARBs. The information gathered included details on occupancy status, crops planted, yield, and income.
In August, DAR and FAO also conducted training on the Kumustasaka Information system in Baguio City.
The training, facilitated by AI4GOV—which is a service provider for FAO—focused on transferring knowledge about the Kumustasaka Information System and enhancing the technical capacity of officers to update and maintain the system.
“Together, I hope, through this project, naiparamdam natin ang tunay na pangangamusta sa ating mga magsasaka. Together, we can build a digital world, where privacy is not a luxury, but a fundamental right.” Foreign-Assisted and Special Projects Office Assistant Secretary Josef Angelo Martires said.
To ensure the Data Privacy Act of 2012 would not be violated with the implementation of the program, the Foreign-Assisted and the Special Projects Office conducted a Data Privacy Impact Assessment and Data Governance Workshop for the Kumustasaka Project on March 14 to 15, 2024.
AI4GOV likewise conducted a trial run of the enhanced Kumustasaka ARB information System on March 19 to 20 in Pangasinan and completed data analytics and study of profiling and geo-referencing of ARB farm lots in August.
For 2025, the project will update field data from geo-referenced ARB farm lots using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or drone. To do this, FAO will provide UAV and conduct capacity building on drone operation and data analysis.
The project will also finalize the Terminal Report and prepare concept paper on Follow-Up/Upscaling Project by end of May.
Land Distribution to Continue
President Marcos has vowed to finish the agrarian reform program of his administration by 2028, saying that beneficiaries should be able to reach their own goals through the lands given to them.
“Kaya naman po, sa ilalim din ng administrasyon na ito na si Sec. Conrad Estrella III, ang pinuno ng DAR, ating sinisikap na makumpleto ang repormang pang-agraryo sa taong 2028 upang mapakinabangan na ng lahat ng mga benepisyaryo ang lupang sakahan”, the President said.
According to him, agrarian reform is not simply a program of his administration, but rather a “labor of love” that his father, late President Marcos Sr. and former Agrarian Reform chief Conrado F. Estrella Sr. worked together on in the past.
Estrella Sr., the former Secretary and Minister of the Department of Agrarian Reform from 1971 to 1986, is the grandfather of current DAR chief Secretary Conrado M. Estrella III.
“Panahon pa ng aking ama noong nagsimula ang reporma sa lupa. Nais niyang mapag-arian ng mga magsasaka ang lupang kanilang sinasaka,” he said.
“Sa Bagong Pilipinas po pangarap natin na sama-sama nating aabutin-ang magkaroon ng mas magandang kinabukasan, matatag na agrikultura, at mas maunlad na ekonomiya,” the President added.
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