The executive committee of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) has affirmed the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) resolution granting a one-year moratorium for the payment of farmer’s amortizations.
PARC council secretary and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) undersecretary for Legal Affairs Office Luis Meinrado Pañgulayan said the matter was unanimously approved by the members of the PARC executive committee during its special meeting via video conference on April 8.
He said the executive committee supports the initiatives of the LBP in providing immediate response and relief to the agrarian reform beneficiaries who were adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Pañgulayan emphasized that the previous PARC executive committee resolution No. 2016-132-02 provides for the continuing implementation of the moratorium on agrarian reform receivables (ARR)/land amortization payment of ARBs in areas affected by natural or man-made calamities.
The LBP Board Resolution No. 20-256 signed on March 31 has imposed a one-year moratorium on the amortization payment of ARBs to assist the farmers amid the economic difficulties as a result of the enhanced community quarantine.
This resolution has been formally affirmed and confirmed by the PARC executive committee.
PARC is the highest policy-making body of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
Under the Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988, the PARC is composed of the President of the Philippines as chairman, the secretary of Agrarian Reform as vice-chairman, and the secretaries of the Departments of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, Budget and Management, Local Government, Public Works and Highways, Trade and Industry, Finance, and Labor and Employment as members. (Ellalyn de Vera-Ruiz)