Solons warn vs non-passage of CARP extension bill

Six newly installed party-list lawmakers have warned of unrest if Congress fails to pass the bill seeking to extend the implementation of the agrarian reform law.

Party-list Reps. Leonardo Montemayor (ABA-AKO), Ariel Hernandez (AMIN), Walden Bello (Anakbayan), Oscar Francisco (Alliance for Rural Concerns) signed a joint manifesto on Tuesday stressing the importance of passing House Bill 4077, seeking to extend the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which is set to expire next month.

They said Congress should move to pass the CARP Extension with Reforms bill or the Carper bill as time is running out on it to do so.

Francisco noted that Congress has barely 14 more session days before its self-imposed deadline for enacting HB 4077 would lapse.

“As newly proclaimed party-list representatives, we will not be able to serve our full terms. With so little time remaining in our hands, we want to spend what ever precious time we have as members of the 14th Congress by pushing for the passage of the most critical piece of reform legislation — the Carper bill,” they said in the manifesto.

“Ensuring this law is enacted will provide hope for hundreds of farmers that finally they can own the land they till. This way, we can make a significant and valuable contribution in the short time that we will be working in this Congress,” they moreover said.

Bello lamented the apparent lack of enthusiasm by the other members of Congress in taking up the bill. “We all know that there is a need to extend CARP because the achievement so far have been extremely limited, especially when it has come into the question of private lands, agrarian reform have not really taken place,” he said. “I am (therefore) calling the attention of colleagues (in the House) to heed the call of our farmers,” he added.

Bello moreover said he believes the government can successfully implement agrarian reform in the country.

“I think we can have a successful agrarian reform, it’s really just a case of political will. We have seen the cases in South Korea and Taiwan, they have successful land reform programs that really redistributed lands,” he said.

According to Bello, to be able to successfully implement agrarian reform the government has to push for “compulsory redistribution” of the lands covered by CARP.

“The most important thing about this land reform program, every successful land reform program has been compulsory acquisition, and the essence of agrarian reform is compulsory redistribution.

Although we know that it is not really sufficient, compulsory redistribution is a necessary condition,” he said.

Montemayor, meanwhile, said Congress should pass the Carper bill because failing to do so could trigger social unrest.

“What is important now is to push for the extension of the program. Non-passage of this bill would destabilize our entire society,” he said.

Speaker Prospero Nograles earlier formed a technical working group (TWG) composed of lawmakers to work with its counterpart in the Senate in order to produce a common version of the CARP Law.

In its report to Nograles dated April 29, the TWG, headed by Apayao province Rep. Elias Bulut Jr., said among the major issues raised during the meeting of the panels were the continued inclusion of compulsory acquisition as a mode for land acquisition and distribution, the review and accounting of distributed but not yet documented lands, and possible allocation of P100 billion for the CARP extension.

The TWG also proposed to increase the funding allocation to P147 billion if the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) would be able to substantiate the need of such amount.

As such, the TWG has asked the DAR to provide them with the exact amount earmarked for the payment of land ownerships.

The TWG also asked the Presidential Commission on Good Government to submit the receivables intended for agrarian reform fund to ensure that the funds would be enough to finance the five-year extension of the agrarian reform program. -Charlie V. Manalo and PNA