NOORDWIJK AAN ZEE, The Netherlands—The plan to distribute one million hectares of agricultural land for free to landless farmers will cost around P200 billion, the government said in a statement after peace negotiators announced the proposal here Thursday.
This was among the main agreements reached at the close of the 4th round of formal talks between the panels of the government and the National Democratic Front in this cold North Sea town about 50 kilometers southwest of Amsterdam on Thursday.
In a joint statement, the two panels said: “The reciprocal working committees on social and economic reforms firmed up their agreement on distribution of land for free as the basic principle of genuine land reform. This is the main message of the bilateral meeting of the RWCs-SER and an achievement of the fourth round of talks.”
The one million hectares constitute the remainder of the lands identified for distribution under the previous agrarian reform laws from combined big and medium landholdings throughout the country. Their expropriation were delayed either due to resistance by landowners or conversion to other uses.
“Under CASER, their distribution will be given priority although there will be additional huge agricultural properties that may be subjected to expropriation,” a ranking member of the reciprocal committee told Manila Standard.
From a low of P89 billion, the government has estimated the cost of agricultural land for distribution under CASER to be around P200 billion.
“Both parties agreed to accelerate the process of concluding a CASER,” the panels’ joint statement read.
The distribution of land for free is among the components of the GRP and NDF drafts under CASER’s agrarian reform and rural development provision. The other components are coverage, compensation to landowners, confiscation, lease/leaseback and plantations, implementation mechanism and land use, among others.
Another major provision of CASER is national industrialization and economic development for which separate bilateral teams were also convened to harmonize contentious provisions from the GRP and NDF draft agreements.
On the second day of the formal talks on Tuesday, the panels agreed to an interim joint ceasefire the effectivity of which will be upon the approval of the guidelines and ground rules that will cover the presence of armed units of both parties in local communities and the creation of buffer zones, identification of prohibited, hostile and provocative acts and the formation of ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanisms.
“Matters regarding a single government authority and taxation shall be discussed and resolved in forging the Comprehensive Agreement on Political and Constitutional Reforms within the framework of the proposed Federal Republic of the Philippines,” the agreement said.
The panels stressed that the interim joint ceasefire agreement “shall be effective until a permanent ceasefire agreement is forged as part of the Comprehensive Agreement on End of Hostilities and Disposition of Forces [final peace agreement].”
At the conclusion of the meeting, the two panels also agreed on the agenda of the 5th round of formal talks on May 22 to June 2, also here hosted by the Royal Norwegian Government.