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INBRIEF
THE NEWSOCIETY
by
Stanley R. Rader
H
ERBERT
W.
ARMSTRONG,
the Worldwide Church of
God and the Ambassador
International Cultural Founda–
tion (AICF) have enjoyed over
the past two decades a special
relationship with the Philippines.
Mr. Armstrong and 1 have met
with Philippine President Ferdi–
nand Marcos and his energetic
and beautiful wife Imelda on
many occasions.
The first congregation of the
Worldwide Church of God to be
established in a Third World
country was in the Philippines.
Mr. Armstrong holds his docto–
rate from a Philippine university.
The AICF is now working with
the Philippine Ministry of Labor
on a manpower institute project
to help reduce the country's
unemployment. The AICF is also
working to help bring sorne of the
world's best talent in the per–
forming arts to the Philippines.
Given this special relationship,
we take a special interest in the
state of President Marcos' New
Society. In fact, in 1977, a mem–
ber of the Worldwide Church of
God in the Philippines wrote a
book entitled
How to Win Suc–
cess Under the New Society.
The New Society is the name
that President Marcos gave to the
set of long- term changes he
hoped to bring about in Philip–
pine life after declaring martial
law in 1972. One feature in par–
ticular of the New Society holds
special interest. It is the land–
reform program.
It
is perhaps the
most promising in the Third
World.
Respecte Blbllcal Principies
First, why is land reform impor–
tant at all? In the Philippines, as
in many other societies in the
20
Third World, the main source of
wealth is land and most of the
land is owned by a very few
people. N a tu rally this causes
much resentment.
The
usual
response elsewhere
on the part of poor countries is
for the human government to
seize the land- basically steal
it-and give the land
not
to the
individual tenant farmers who
were tilling it all along for the
great landowner, but to "coopera–
tives."
But the tenant farmers have
even less incentive then to use
efficient farming methods or
work hard. Befare they could
keep at least sorne of their crops
for themselves (usually half), but
under cooperatives, they find
someone else now owns all the
fruit of their labors.
Result? Food production typi–
cally falls. A poor and hungry
people become poorer and hun–
grier. But this should not be
surprising. The laws of God
operate in this present evil world
just as much as they will operate
in God's World Tomorrow. Hu–
man governments cannot violate
God's laws against steali ng
(Deuteronomy 5: 19) or against
the use of the power of human
rulership to confiscate land with–
out paying for it (1 Kings 21: 1-
21) and still hope to create a
prosperous society.
What is interesting about the
Philippine land-reform program,
however, is that it respects these
biblical principies. The old land–
owners are being paid for their
land. And instead of being herded
onto "collective farms," the farm–
ers eventually come to own their
own land.
This is as it will be under God's
law in the World Tomorrow.
Each family will own its own
piece of land after God apportions.
it out to all the families of the
earth. These essential principies
of God's system of land reform
are found in Numbers 33:54:
"And ye shall divide the land by
lot for an inheritance among your
families: and to the more ye shal l
give the more inheritance, and to
the fewer ye shall give the less
inheritance: every man's inheri–
tance shall be in the place where
his lot fal leth; according to the
tribes of your fathers ye shall
inherit."
A Meaeure of Dlgnlty
The actual mechanics of the Phil–
ippine land-reform program, of
course, differ somewhat from
what they will be when God
redistributes the world's land at
the beginning of the World To–
morrow. The Philippine program
is limited in scope, covering
around a third of the country's
agricultura! land, basically de–
voted to rice and coro (maize). Of
that third, about half is to be, in
effect, "sold" to about 400,000
tenant farmers, the other half
acquired by around 500,000
farmers who will hold their land
under permanent leasehold ar–
rangements. The leasehold part of
the program is to accommodate
smaller landlords-those old
landowners who held less than a
certain amount of land can retain
ownership over their land but
have to give their tenant farmers
firm leases.
The system is distinctive in its
respect for the rights of previous
landowners. Basically, the gov–
ernment Land Bank pays the old
landowners for their land, and
gives it to tenant farmers who
have, as the plan was originally
set up, 15 years to "earn" the
land by making payments to the
Land Bank.
The land reform program has
been a majar success. Unlike
other programs which have
caused food production to de–
cline, the Philippine program has
boosted food production-the
rice harvest has doubled in the
The PLAIN TRUTH