Vision
PCCI is the voice of Philippine business recognized by government and international institutions. As a proactive catalyst of development, PCCI promotes and supports the drive for globally competitive Philippine enterprises in partnership with government, local chambers, and other business organizations.
Mission
The main responsibility of PCCI is to provide focused advocacy for business growth and sustainable development by providing business services for the advancement of grassroots entrepreneurship, chamber development, international trade relations, business innovation and excellence, and operating efficiency. These will be achieved through a professional organization working in close cooperation with various stakeholders in public and private sectors.
PCCI supports amendment of CARL for better agri productivity, efficiency
The weak agriculture system in the country is principally driven by the low productivity of farmers and despite the implementation of the comprehensive land reform law and various support services, the Philippines continues to lag behind her neighbors in ASEAN in terms of development.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) expressed its support for the amendment of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), specifically easing the rules in land consolidation and ownership to create opportunities for better agricultural productivity by farming larger tracts of land.
In a meeting organized by PCCI Agriculture Committee, Atty. George Katigbak of the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) said that land fragmentation as a result of the land reform program negatively impacts agricultural productivity and efficiency.
Under the present law, land retention is only limited to five years and agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) are prohibited from leasing or selling their property within 10 years of award, and those with unpaid obligations to Land Bank, which approximately is around 71 percent of ARBs.
Katigbak said that Philippine agriculture has remained at a negative 1-2 percent range in the last 10 years and its share in GDP and employment has remained low.
“The evidence on land pawning and selling show that land consolidation is actually taking place underground. In essence, we are not bringing anything new, we are just formalizing what is happening on the ground which is an economic efficiency argument,” Katigbak said in his presentation.
Paul Cuyegkeng, PCCI Agriculture Committee chair, said that land consolidation is the right direction to take and has successfully worked out based on his personal experience.
“In my area, we have tried to consolidate a few hectares and it is working. We are grouping the farmers to form a cooperative and trying to put them together with the Cooperative Authority (CDA). The key thing is to make sure that we get the right representatives to manage the coop because you need people that can be trusted, honest in serving the coop members,” Cuyegkeng said.
The FEF recommends some key reform measures in amending the law. These include, among others, the conversion of CLOAs (certificate of land ownership awards) to fee simple titles in order to increase the land values and efficiency in land transactions; notice of land coverage for land reform should be effective for one year only, and failure to acquire lands during one year means coverage is cancelled; and, removal of DAR clearances on land transfers and let the Registration Authority do the monitoring and verification of landholding ceiling with its electronic database.
--- Donna Brazas Angulo/Ma. Joanna Paula L. Pascual