Senators on Friday, July 7, welcomed President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s signing into law of the New Agrarian Emancipation Act.
Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri said the bill “is good news” for the country’s farmers as this would relieve the burden of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) beneficiaries in paying amortization.
”Their payment will be eased and the land will be given to them faster,” Zubiri said.
Senator Imee Marcos also hailed the passage of the New Agrarian Emancipation Act which sought to relieve farmers from the financial burdens on their loans under the CARP.
“It fills me with great hope and expectation that the Filipino farmer will soon own the land he has been tilling since time immemorial,’’ she said.
“Freeing our farmers from debt through the passage of the New Agrarian Emancipation Act today, July 7, 2023, is the first concrete step towards fulfilling the vision that our late father, President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, enunciated more than 50 years ago, when he signed PD No. 27 decreeing the ‘emancipation of tenants from the bondage of the soil,” she stressed.
Marcos said that she is gratified that her work in the Senate has allowed her to somehow continue her father’s legacy.
“Shortly after I assumed office during the 18th Congress, I filed Senate Bill (SB) 849 entitled ‘An Act Fulfilling the Emancipation of Tenants from the Bondage of the Soil,” she said.
“When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, former President Duterte immediately signed into law Republic Act No. 11494, or the Bayanihan 2, which I co-authored, where I pushed for the inclusion of Section 4(m) providing financial relief for agrarian reform beneficiaries and condoning interests and penalties to agrarian-related loans,’’ she pointed out.
Marcos emphasized that in July 2022, she filed SB 178 entitled the “Emancipation of Tenants Act,” which sought to relieve farmers from the financial burdens on their loans under the CARP.
“I am grateful, as well, to my brother, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for sharing our father's vision and making agrarian reform a priority in his Administration,” the President’s sister added.