State-run Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) welcomes the imposition of a
year-long moratorium on land amortization and interest payments of agrarian reform
beneficiaries (ARBs) for agricultural lands distributed under the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), meant to provide financial relief to over 650,000
ARBs whose income were adversely affected by the on-going health pandemic.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed on 13 September 2022 an Executive Order
to freeze CARP payments for a year, thereby allowing ARBs to save and utilize funds
for farm development and improved productivity.
“LANDBANK fully supports this landmark initiative to advance the interest and
welfare of agrarian reform beneficiaries. Rest assured that we will continue to
complement the National Government’s development agenda for ARBs and strategic
land reforms,” said LANDBANK President and CEO Cecilia C. Borromeo.
LANDBANK serves as the collection agent of the National Government for land
amortizations from ARBs, pursuant to its mandate as the financial intermediary of
CARP. All collections are remitted by the Bank to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) as
part of the revenue of the National Government.
The Bank is also responsible for determining the land valuation and compensation
for all lands covered under CARP. It likewise facilitates land transfer payment, and
handles Agrarian Reform (AR) bond servicing transactions such as bond transfer,
conversion, exchange and replacement, among others.
Meanwhile, LANDBANK continues to offer financial assistance to ARBs and their
organizations, or the Agrarian Reform Beneficiary Organizations (ARBOs), through
the Credit Assistance Program for Program Beneficiaries Development (CAP-PBD) for
crop production, agri-enterprise or livelihood, and other agri-related projects.
The program is being implemented in partnership with the Department of Agrarian
Reform (DAR) to provide capacity building and enterprise development support or
interventions to ARBs and ARBOs, aimed at strengthening and improving their
organizations’ operations and productivity.
LANDBANK and DAR also offer the Expanded Assistance to Restore and Install
Sustainable Enterprises for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries and Small Farm Holders
(E-ARISE-ARBs) which provides a contingent credit facility to ARBOs and its
members who were adversely affected by natural calamities or disasters, pest and
diseases, and other viral infections or outbreaks.
LANDBANK’s combined releases under CAP-PBD and E-ARISE-ARBs have reached
P720.2 million as of 30 June 2022, benefitting more than 200 ARBOs with more than
11,000 ARBs and small farm holder-members nationwide.
In partnership with DAR, LANDBANK is also addressing the credit needs of individual
ARBs who are not members of an ARBO through the Accessible Funds for Delivery to
ARBs (AFFORD ARBs) Lending Program. The Bank has extended loan assistance
amounting to P468.6 million to more than 1,700 borrowers under the Program as of
end-June 2022.
