MANILA - President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is set to sign on Friday a proposed measure that will unburden Agrarian Reform beneficiaries of billions of pesos in unpaid obligations to the government for parcels of land they received under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.

The New Agrarian Emancipation Act effectively condones an estimated ₱58.125 billion in unpaid amortization amounts, interest payments, surcharges, and penalties of existing loans of some 654,000 agrarian reforms beneficiaries (ARBs) secured under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), covering a total of 1.18 million hectares of awarded land. It also exempts the agrarian reform lands of ARBs, as estates, from the payment of estate tax.

In a statement, the bill’s principal sponsor, AGRI Party-list Rep. Wilbert T. Lee, welcomed the development as a win for farmer-beneficiaries

"Finally, they will be unburdened of their loans, interests, and penalties that contribute to their inability to overcome poverty, and are also major factors that have kept them from becoming fully productive,” Lee said in a statement.

“Dahil marami po sa ating mga ARBs ang nalulugmok sa kahirapan, kapag tinanggal po natin sa kanila ang kanilang mga pinagkakautangan ay bababa rin po ang dami ng mahihirap sa ating bansa," the solon added.

House Ways and Means Chair Joey Salceda meanwhile says that the New Agrarian Emancipation Act “is the best and the biggest accomplishment of the Marcos administration” in its first year.

“This will be the hallmark of the Marcos administration’s inaugural year in office. It’s historic in scale, in worldview, and in what it will bring to the people,” Salceda said.

The lawmaker adds that the condonation of ARB debts “could result in increase in productivity of between 23.8% (as the market can now allocate the land more efficiently) and 38.3% if productivity-enhancing interventions are increased (which the bill proposes) among the lands condoned.”

“Taken together, that is P629 billion more in economic output for the land condoned, assuming it remains used as just agricultural land. Of course, there will be more uses, including for renewable energy,” Salceda said.

Shortly after signing of the New Agrarian Emancipation Act, the President is set to award titles to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries in a separate ceremony in Malacañang.