La Castellana Mayor Enrico Elumba is calling for a moratorium on land disposition in municipalities where the current amount of property disposed is way beyond the capability of the government to support.

At a press conference yesterday, Elumba also called for a strong lobby for a review of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program when its law expires next year, saying its implementation in sugarlands has been detrimental to Negros Occidental. There is a need for a restudy the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (R.A. 6657) with emphasis on the sustainability of the program and revenue generation, he said.

In his study entitled "Sourcing Revenues in Times of Fiscal Crisis: An LGU Dilemma," Elumba said the total agricultural land in Negros Occidental is 237,580.0972 hectares and covered by CARP is 57,305.4674 hectares.

The 2003 tax base of Negros Occidental shows that total tax collectibles for CARP covered areas is P469,877,430.96 but only P6,994,562.14 or 1.49 percent was collected, he said.

In Negros Occidental CARP is a dilemma because LGU revenue generation is highly dependent on Real Property Taxes, but collection efficiency decreased due to the inability of CARP beneficiaries to pay their taxes, he said.

He pointed out that when real property tax is affected, funding for public education is affected.

The Department of Agrarian Reform has been overly focused on land disposition, which oftentimes, is way beyond the capacity of the government to support in terms of socio-economic programs, he said.

Because of lack of financial and technical support, CARP beneficiaries mortgage their land after being in possession of it for a month or two. The mortgagee becomes the new landowner and the CARP beneficiary is relegated to his previous status as worker or laborer of the land, Elumba said.

Without sufficient economic support, the beneficiaries are at a loss as how to convert their land originally devoted to sugar farming to some other productive farming, he said.

Elumba called on authorities to assess the "real" ownership of the disposed lands and strictly implement pertinent rules against CLOA violators.

Other recommendations of Elumba are: The establishment Public Economic Enterprise to assist CARP beneficiaries in productivity enhancement and product marketing; promotion of the convergence of socio-economic support programs of NGA, LGU, NGO and landowner-investors; and the beefing up of the manpower and logistical capability of the Municipal Agrarian Reform Officers.*CPG

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