Section 16August 7, 2009, Sec./Art. 16

Section 38 of Republic Act No. 6657, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 38. Support Services for Landowners. - The PARC, with the assistance of such other government agencies and instrumentalities as it may direct, shall provide landowners affected by the CARP and prior agrarian reform programs with the following services:

"(a) Investment information, financial and counseling assistance, particularly investment information on government-owned and/or -controlled corporations and disposable assets of the government in pursuit of national industrialization and economic independence:

"(b) Facilities, programs and schemes for the conversion or exchange of bonds issued for payment of the lands acquired with stocks and bonds issued by the National Government, the BSP and other government institutions and instrumentalities;

"(c) Marketing of agrarian reform bonds, as well as promoting the marketability of said bonds in traditional and non-traditional financial markets and stock exchanges: and/or

"(d) Other services designed t o utilize productively the proceeds of the sale of such lands for rural industrialization.

"A landowner who invests in rural-based industries shall be entitled to the incentives granted to a registered enterprise engaged in a pioneer or preferred area of investment as provided for in the Omnibus Investment Code of 1987,or to such other incentives as the PARC, the LBP, or other government financial institutions shall provide.

"The LBP shall redeem a landowner's agrarian reform bonds at face value as an incentive: Provided, That at least fifty percent (50%) of the proceeds thereof shall be invested in a Board of Investments (BOI)-registered company or in any agri-business or agro-industrial enterprise in the region where the CARP-covered landholding is located. An additional incentive of two percent (2%) in cash shall be paid to a landowner who maintains his/her enterprise as a going concern for five (5) years or keeps his/her investments in a BOI- registered firm for the same period: Provided, further, That the rights of the agrarian reform beneficiaries are not, in any way, prejudiced or impaired thereby.

"The DAR, the LBP and the Department of Trade and Industry shall jointly formulate the program to carry out these provisions under the supervision of the PARC: Provided, That in no case shall the landowners' sex, economic, religious, social, cultural and political attributes exclude them from accessing these support services."