Q and A on CARP

1. What is CARP? What is CARPER?

CARP stands for the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, a government
initiative that aims to grant landless farmers and farmworkers ownership of
agricultural lands. It was signed into law by President Corazon C. Aquino on June 10,
1988, and was scheduled to have been completed in 1998. On the year of its deadline,
Congress enacted a law (Republic Act No. 8532) appropriating additional funds for the
program and extending the automatic appropriation of ill-gotten wealth recovered by
the Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) for CARP until 2008.
CARPER, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with
Reforms, is the amendatory law that extends yet again the deadline of distributing
agricultural lands to farmers for five years. It also amends other provisions stated in
CARP. CARPER was signed into law on August 7, 2009.

2. Who are the beneficiaries of CARP?

Landless farmers, including agricultural lessees, tenants, as well as regular, seasonal
and other farmworkers. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) identifies and
screens potential beneficiaries and validates their qualifications. For example, to
qualify, you must be at least 15 years old, be a resident of the barangay where the land
holding is located, and own no more than 3 hectares of agricultural land.

3. What are the government offices involved in the program?

Many agencies are involved in the implementation of CARP. The lead agencies are the
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), and the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR). They are in charge of the identification and distribution of
covered land, and is commonly referred to as CARP able
land.

4. How much land is subject to land reform?

An estimated 7.8 million hectares of land is covered by CARP.

5. How much land has been acquired and distributed so far?

As of December 31, 2013, the government has acquired and distributed 6.9 million
hectares of land, equivalent to 88% of the total land subject to CARP.

6. How much land was distributed to beneficiaries under this administration?

From July 2010 to December 2013, the administration has distributed a total of
751,514 hectares, or 45% of the total landholdings to be distributed to the farmer
beneficiaries left under this administration.

From this, DAR has distributed 412,782 hectares and DENR has already distributed
338,732 hectares.

7. How much land does the government still need to acquire for distribution
from 2014 to 2016?

DAR still needs to acquire 771,795 hectares, while the DENR still needs to acquire
134,857 hectaresa total of 906,652 hectares.

8. How will the government acquire the landholdings?

There are different modes of acquiring and distributing public and private agricultural
lands. For private lands under compulsory acquisition, the DAR will issue Notices of
Coverage to the original owners of the landholdings. Notices of Coverage will be issued
to most of the landholdings by June 30, 2014.

9. What is a notice of coverage?

A Notice of Coverage (NOC) is a letter informing a landowner that his/her land is
covered by CARP, and is subject to acquisition and distribution to beneficiaries. It
likewise informs the landowner of his/her rights under the law, including the right to
retain 5 hectares.

10. After the period of time allotted for CARPER by law is passed (August 7, 2009
to June 30, 2014), how will the remaining landholdings, which are subject to
compulsory acquisition, be distributed to the beneficiaries?
As long as Notices of Coverage are issued on or before June 30, 2014, land distribution
to beneficiaries shall continue until completion, according to Section 30 of CARPER
(R.A. No. 9700). Meaning, even after CARPERs deadline, the law itself mandates the
concerned agencies to finish distributing lands to the beneficiaries up to the very last
hectare. This assures to the farmers that the process for receiving their land will
continue (e.g., beneficiary identification, survey, generation, and registration of land
titles to beneficiaries).
11. How does DAR intend to deal with the remaining landholdings (771,795
hectares) to be distributed?
DAR projects that it will be distributing 187,686 hectares in 2014; 198,631 hectares in
2015; and 385,478 hectares in 2016.
Of the remaining CARP able landholdings to be distributed, 551,275 hectares are
considered workable, while 220,520 hectares are tagged as problematic. Solutions for
problematic landholdings will be worked out.
12. What were the challenges encountered in the course of acquiring and
distributing private lands?
There were numerous problems in implementing the land reform program:
In some cases, technical descriptions in the land titles (which determine the
boundaries of the land) were found to be erroneous and had to be corrected. Some
titles were destroyed, and therefore, had to be reissued by undergoing a court process,
similar to filing a case. Potential beneficiaries argued among themselves on who
should or should not be qualified as beneficiaries; these disputes had to be mediated
or resolved by the government. In other cases, landowners may petition that their
lands be exempted or excluded from CARP coverage, and some of these petitions have
gone up to the Supreme Court.
Smaller parcels of land (5 hectares to 10 hectares) were only processed in the last year
of implementation of CARPER (July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014). Past efforts focused on

bigger parcels of land, which involved more paperwork to process. Now that efforts are
focused on smaller but more numerous cuts of land, there are more claim folders to
process
and
distribute.
From the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office and
the Department of Agrarian Reform
Copyright 2013 Department of Agrarian Reform. All rights reserved. CARP RA
6657 CARPER RA 9700