Aquino Signs Controversial Bill Giving Land to Tenant Farmers

President Corazon Aquino on Friday signed into law a controversial bill outlining the redistribution of land to tenant farmers in a program that the Philippine government said could change the face of the country.

The law has been criticized by leftist groups who say it exempts most agricultural lands, including Aquino’s family plantation. It was the first major legislation to come out of the bicameral Congress since its revival a year after the uprising that swept Aquino to power in February, 1986.

The agrarian reform law, widely regarded as the key to combating the nation’s grinding poverty and growing Communist insurgency, was the cornerstone of Aquino’s 1986 election platform.

“Let us see the program not as a taking of property from some and the giving if it to others,” Aquino said, “but as a way of liberating the hitherto suppressed energies and creativity of the nation for the . . . prosperity of all.”

“I expect the entire apparatus of government--civil and military--to be deeply involved and committed to its success,” Aquino said after signing the bill.

Leftists Reject Law

But leftist groups have rejected the law. Jaime Tadeo, leader of a left-wing peasant group, said the program exempts 75% of the country’s total agricultural lands, including the 15,000-acre Hacienda Luisita, the vast sugar plantation owned by Aquino’s family.

Aquino has repeatedly said the plantation will be distributed to tenant farmers under the program.

Landowners opposing the program in the central island of Negros have threatened to mount a revolt if the government proceeds with the program.

The law, which took Congress a year to work out, sought to compromise sharply opposing positions of landlords and farmers.

The law allows landowners to retain 12.5 acres of land. Heirs at least 15 years old who plan to farm the land can retain 7.5 acres each. The bill provides cash compensation ranging from 25% to 35% of the fair value of the estate and the rest in government bonds.

But there are loopholes in the law, leftist groups say. Also, public lands leased to multinational corporations will be distributed within three years.

Sees Impact on Insurgency

Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos, when asked if the law will have an impact on the country’s Communist insurgency, said, “Definitely, because one of the root causes of the insurgency . . . is poverty.”

“It is the most revolutionary piece of legislation,” said House Speaker Ramon Mitra. “It can change the lives of millions of our people. It’s got to work.”