The Presidential Agrarian Reform Council
(PARC), Chaired by President Rodrigo R. Duterte, shall impose a moratorium on
land use conversion of agricultural lands for a period of two (2) years to
preserve agricultural lands and ensure food security.
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| Land
use conversion is the act or process of changing the current physical use of a piece of agricultural land into some other use, as approved by Department of Agrarian Reform. |
The PARC is the highest policy-making and
implementing body on the land reform program of the government. It is composed
of the President of the Philippines as Chairman, the Secretary of Agrarian
Reform as Vice-Chairman and the following members: Secretaries of the
Departments of Agriculture; Environment and Natural Resources; Budget and
Management; Local Government; Public Works and Highways; Trade and Industry;
Finance; Labor and Employment; Director-General of the National Economic and
Development Authority; President, Land Bank of the Philippines; Administrator,
National Irrigation Administration; and three (3) representatives of affected
landowners to represent Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao; six (6) representatives of
agrarian reform beneficiaries, two (2) each from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao,
provided that one of them shall be from the cultural communities.
The PARC also has an Executive Committee
(EXCOM) composed of DAR Secretary Rafael Mariano as Chairman, and such other
members as the President of the Philippines may designate, taking into account
Article XIII, Section 5 of the Constitution. Unless otherwise directed by the
PARC, the EXCOM may meet and decide on any meeting and all matters in between
meetings of the PARC: Provided, however, that its decisions must be reported to
the PARC immediately and not later than the next meeting.
Recently, the PARC was convened last
September 12, 2016 after more than a decade of inactivity wherein DAR Secretary
Rafael Mariano presented the legal structure of the PARC and the DAR’s five-point policy thrust and
directives.
In that meeting, President Duterte also
affirmed his support to the policy on free irrigation and the return of the
coco levy fund to coconut farmers. The PARC also instructed the Land Bank of
the Philippines to provide more services to agrarian reform beneficiaries and
the distribution of CARP lands consisting of around 800,000 hectares as land acquisition
(LAD) balances including those not yet issued with Notices of Coverage (NOCs).
During the meeting, a two-year suspension
on land use conversion was approved wherein President Duterte instructed the
DAR to prepare the draft Executive Order for the implementation of the land conversion
moratorium. The moratorium shall apply to: all awarded lands under RA 6657 as
amended, PD 27 and other agrarian reform laws, all agricultural lands with
Notices of Coverage (NOCs), all irrigated and irrigable lands, all prime
agricultural lands, retention areas of landowners which are tenanted or
occupied by tenant-farmers, etc. The DAR was also tasked to promulgate the
rules and regulations for the land use conversion moratorium. /cds
