COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM LAW OF 1988
Republic Act No. 6657
CHAPTER IX
SUPPORT SERVICES
SEC. 35. Creation of Support Services Office. – There is hereby created the Office of Support Services under the DAR to be headed by an Undersecretary.
The office shall provide general support and coordinative services in the implementation of the program, particularly in carrying out the provisions of the following services to farmer beneficiaries and affected landowners:
1) Irrigation facilities, especially second crop or dry season irrigation facilities;
2) Infrastructure development and public works projects in areas and settlement that come under agrarian reform, and for this purpose, the preparation of the physical development plan of such settlements providing suitable barangay sites, potable water and power resources, irrigation systems, seeds and seedling banks, post harvest facilities, and other facilities for a sound agricultural development plan. For the purpose of providing the aforecited infrastructure and facilities, the DAR is authorized to enter into contracts with interested private parties on long term basis or through joint venture agreements or build-operate-transfer scheme:
3) Government subsidies for the use of irrigation facilities
4) Price support and guarantee for all agricultural produce;
5) Extending to small landowners, farmers and farmers’ organizations the necessary credit, like concessional and collateral-free loans, for agro-industrialization based on social collaterals like the guarantees of farmers’ organizations;
6) Promoting, developing and extending financial assistance to small and medium-scale industries in agrarian reform areas;
7) Assigning sufficient numbers of agricultural extension workers to farmers’ organization;
8) Undertake research, development and dissemination of information on agrarian reform, plants and crops best suited for cultivation and marketing, and low cost and ecologically sound farm inputs and technologies to minimize reliance on expensive and imported agricultural inputs;
9) Development of cooperative management skills through intensive training;chan robles virtual law library
10) Assistance in the identification of ready markets for agricultural produce and training in the other various aspects of marketing;
11) Conduct and effective information dissemination system through the Department of Agriculture to promote marketing and minimize spoilage of agricultural produce and products;
12) Create a credit guarantee fund for agricultural landowners that will enhance the collateral value of agricultural lands that are affected or will be affected by coverage under the agrarian reform program; and
13) Administration, operation, management and funding of support services programs and projects including pilot projects and models related to agrarian reform as developed by the DAR. (As amended by R. A. 7905)
SEC. 36. Funding for Support Services. – In order to cover the expenses and cost of support, at least twenty-five percent (25%) of all appropriations for agrarian reform shall immediately be set aside and made available for this purpose: Provided, That for the next five (5) years, a minimum of one (1) Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) shall be established by the DAR, in coordination with the local government units, non-governmental organizations and people’s organizations in each legislative district with a predominant agricultural population: Provided, further, That the areas in which the ARCs are to be established shall have been fully subjected under this law.
For this purpose, an Agrarian Reform Community shall be defined as a barangay or a cluster of barangays primarily composed and managed by Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries who shall be willing to be organized and undertake the integrated development of an area and/or their organizations/cooperatives. In each community, the DAR, together with the agencies and organizations above mentioned, shall identify the farmers’ association, cooperative or their respective federations approved by the farmers-beneficiaries that shall take the lead in the agricultural development of the area. In addition, the DAR shall be authorized to package proposals and receive grants, aids and other forms of financial assistance from any source. (As amended by R. A. 7905)
SEC. 37. Support Services to the Beneficiaries. – The PARC shall ensure that support services to farmer-beneficiaries are provided, such as:
a) Land surveys and titling;
b) Liberalized terms of credit facilities and production loans;
c) Extension services by way of planting, cropping, production and post-harvest technology transfer as well as marketing and management assistance and support to cooperatives and farmer organization;
d) Infrastructure such as access trails, mini-dams, public utilities, marketing and storage facilities; and
e) Research, production and use of organic fertilizers and other local substances necessary to farming and cultivation.
The PARC shall formulate policies to ensure that support services to farmer-beneficiaries shall be provided at all stages of land reform.
The Bagong Kilusang Kabuhayan sa Kaunlaran (BKKK) Secretariat shall be transferred and attached to the LBP, for its supervision, including all its applicable and existing funds, personnel, properties, equipment and records.
Misuse or diversion of the financial and support services herein provided shall result in sanction against the beneficiary guilty thereof, including the forfeiture of the land transferred to him or lesser sanctions as may be provided by the PARC, without prejudice to criminal prosecution.
SEC. 38. Support Services to Landowners. – The PARC, with the assistance of such other government agencies and instrumentalities as it may direct, shall provide landowners affected by the CARP and proper agrarian reform programs with the following services:
a) Investment information, financial and counseling assistance;
b) Facilities, programs and schemes for the conversion or exchange of bonds issued for payment of the lands acquired with stocks and bonds issued by the National Government, the central bank and other government institutions and instrumentalities;
c) Marketing of LBP bonds, as well as promoting the marketability of said bonds in traditional and non-traditional financial markets and stock exchanges;
d) Other services designed to utilize productively the proceeds of the sale of such lands for rural industrialization.
A landowner who invests in rural-based industries shall be entitled to the incentives granted to a registered enterprise engaged in a pioneer or preferred area of investment as provided for in the Omnibus Investment Code of 1987, or to such other incentives as the PARC, the LBP, or other government financial institutions may provide.
The LBP shall redeem a landowner’s LBP bonds at face value: Provided, that the proceeds thereof shall be invested in a BOI- registered company or in any agri-business or agro-industrial enterprise in the region where the landowner has previously made investments, to the extent of thirty percent (30%) of the face value of said LBP bonds, subject to guidelines that shall be issued by the LBP.
SEC. 39. Land Consolidation. – the DAR shall carry out land consolidation projects to promote equal distribution of landholdings, to provide the needed infrastructure in agriculture, and to conserve soil fertility and prevent erosion.
