As the country marks the 38th year of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) on June 10, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) reaffirmed the program’s historic failure in addressing the fundamental problem of landlessness among Filipino farmers.

Nearly four decades after its enactment and after billions of pesos in government spending, CARP has failed to deliver genuine and truly redistributive land reform. Instead, landlessness remains widespread, poverty persists in rural communities, and landlord control over agricultural land continues largely intact.

Government data itself exposes the program’s failure. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), 72 percent of farms in 2022 were not fully owned by those who actually till them. In several regions, including Western Visayas, Negros, and Bicol, the figure reaches as high as eight out of every ten farms.

“Thirty-eight years after CARP was enacted, millions of farmers remain without land tenure secure security of the land they cultivate. This is clear proof that the program has failed to resolve the centuries-old problem of land monopoly,” KMP said.

The peasant group stressed that CARP’s loopholes are inherent and its failure is not merely the result of poor implementation but are rooted in the program’s market-oriented land reform framework, which prioritizes landlord interests, corporate profits, and foreign capital over the rights and welfare of farmers.

KMP reiterated that genuine agrarian reform requires the free distribution of land to tillers, the dismantling of landlord monopoly, and the development of domestic agriculture linked to national industrialization.

“After 38 years, CARP stands as a testament to the bankruptcy of market-led land reform. Filipino farmers continue to demand genuine agrarian reform as the foundation for rural development and social justice,” KMP concluded.

CARP coverage shrunk by half as millions of hectares exempted from distribution

KMP also condemned the drastic reduction of land originally intended for distribution under CARP. The group asserted that the program has systematically protected landlord interests through exemptions, conversions, and legal reversals.

According to DAR’s data, around 4.9 million hectares have been distributed under CARP as of June 2025, representing about 92 percent of its current 5.4-million-hectare coverage.

However, KMP pointed out that this falls far short of the program’s original target of 10.3 million hectares when CARP was enacted in 1988.
“Nearly half of the original land reform coverage disappeared through exemptions, conversions, and anti-farmer reviews that favored landlords and corporations,” KMP said.

The group cited the agrarian case of the 75.5-hectare Moluccan estate in Norzagaray, Bulacan, which was exempted from CARP coverage despite the absence of a proper field investigation. In 2018, around 50 farming families were forcibly evicted from the area by the landgrabber.

Meanwhile, DAR itself admitted in January this year that approximately 700,000 hectares remain pending for distribution, with the largest backlogs concentrated in BARMM, Negros, and Bicol — regions where landlessness remains severe.

“Even after 38 years, CARP has failed to complete its already reduced coverage. The backlog reflects the government’s absence of political will to confront landlord power,” KMP said.

KMP also warned that government programs anchored on CARP have accelerated the liberalization and further re-consolidation of agricultural land. Programs such as the Support to Parcellization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) and the New Agrarian Emancipation Act (NAEA) facilitate the eventual sale and re-concentration of distributed lands in the hands of large corporations and landed elites.

The group further criticized the Marcos administrations implementation of the amended Investors Lease Act or the 99-Year Land Lease policy, which expands foreign access and control over domestic land. KMP also pointed to its connection with emerging investment and infrastructure initiatives, including the Pax Silica and the Luzon Economic Corridor, which are being promoted as hubs for semiconductor manufacturing, artificial intelligence industries, critical minerals processing, and other global supply-chain investments.

“In the name of economic security and foreign investment, vast tracts of land are being opened to projects that primarily serve foreign corporations and geopolitical interests, while farmers’ rights to land and the country’s need for genuine national industrialization and food security continue to be sidelined,” KMP said.

The peasant group called on farmers, workers, youth, women, church people, professionals, and other democratic sectors to join the June 10 protest and expose the failures of CARP while resisting increasing sell-out of land to foreign interests. ###