COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM (CARP): IMPLICATIONS IN ENDING LOCAL COMMUNIST ARMED CONFLICT
Type
Thesis
Authors
Category
PSOSEC
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Publication Year
2019
Abstract
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) was introduced almost three decades ago with the approval of Republic Act (RA) 6657, also known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) of 1988. This study answered the following questions: (1) How do security challenges affect the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in Tarlac?; (2) What were the observed purposes of the local communist groups in utilizing CARP as one of their platforms in their propaganda?; and (3) What measures/initiatives can be undertaken to enhance the implementation of CARP for its beneficiaries? It involved key informant interviews and focused group discussions among concerned individuals/agencies in Tarlac and Region 3 and document analyses.
On the challenges in terms of maintaining peace and order in Tarlac, results showed that there is an indirect relationship between CARP and ending local communism. Firstly, recruitment by CPP-NPA to farmers in Tarlac had declined since 2012 after the Hacienda Luisita case has been resolved and lands had been distributed. Secondly, rather than joining left-leaning groups, farmers in Tarlac are now focused on improving their lives through the lands they received.
Meanwhile, on the institutional challenges, there is found lack of inventory data on lands. Delays and problem occur in land distribution because of the unavailability of land documents and the absence of a single projection map among land agencies. The absence of a single projection map implies that land boundaries can be erroneous. Nonetheless, this also related to lack of data sharing among agencies involved in the implementation of CAPR.
On the observed purposes of the local communist groups in utilizing CARP in its propaganda, the CPP/NPA/NDF primarily relies on the alliance of the workers and peasants, the proletariats, in the advancement of the new democratic revolution. However, the trend at present is that while democratic spaces continue to widen, communist front organizations have gained new grounds in terms of recruitment that was in previous decades heavily concentrated in the countryside among farmers, rural folks and peasants. Hence, what happens at present is that national democratic front has successfully included urban legal fronts, by far outweighing its rural recruits.
Lastly, some of the measures/initiatives provided by the research participants include the fast tracking of the distribution of lands. There is also a call for the continuous provision of support services to farmers in Tarlac and a need to intensify the whole-of-nation approach especially towards ending local communism/insurgency in the country.
On the challenges in terms of maintaining peace and order in Tarlac, results showed that there is an indirect relationship between CARP and ending local communism. Firstly, recruitment by CPP-NPA to farmers in Tarlac had declined since 2012 after the Hacienda Luisita case has been resolved and lands had been distributed. Secondly, rather than joining left-leaning groups, farmers in Tarlac are now focused on improving their lives through the lands they received.
Meanwhile, on the institutional challenges, there is found lack of inventory data on lands. Delays and problem occur in land distribution because of the unavailability of land documents and the absence of a single projection map among land agencies. The absence of a single projection map implies that land boundaries can be erroneous. Nonetheless, this also related to lack of data sharing among agencies involved in the implementation of CAPR.
On the observed purposes of the local communist groups in utilizing CARP in its propaganda, the CPP/NPA/NDF primarily relies on the alliance of the workers and peasants, the proletariats, in the advancement of the new democratic revolution. However, the trend at present is that while democratic spaces continue to widen, communist front organizations have gained new grounds in terms of recruitment that was in previous decades heavily concentrated in the countryside among farmers, rural folks and peasants. Hence, what happens at present is that national democratic front has successfully included urban legal fronts, by far outweighing its rural recruits.
Lastly, some of the measures/initiatives provided by the research participants include the fast tracking of the distribution of lands. There is also a call for the continuous provision of support services to farmers in Tarlac and a need to intensify the whole-of-nation approach especially towards ending local communism/insurgency in the country.
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