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By Nora O. Gamolo, Senior Desk Editor
The consolidated House Bill that extends CARP
for five years beyond 2008 reacts to the current rice crisis, in a
way proving that agrarian reform is actually intended to resolve
many kinds of crises affecting small farmers.
It primarily ensures that farmlands are not
converted into industrial lots or residential subdivisions so that
farmers can continue to have a livelihood planting and harvesting
crops.
It provides P100 billion to fund land
acquisition, distribution and other work under the program. It also
tasks the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to submit an annual
progress report to Congress.
A congressional oversight committee is created
to propose additional appropriation until all agricultural lands are
acquired and distributed under the CARP.
Besides a P5-billion annual appropriation, funds
for the extended CARP will come from proceeds of the sales of
government assets by the Asset Privatization Trust, receipts from
assets recovered and proceeds from ill-gotten wealth recovered by
the Presidential Commission on Good Government and, proceeds from
the disposition and development of properties of government in
foreign countries.
The proposed law provides, however, that
government’s use of recovered ill-gotten wealth shall not
prejudice allocations for human rights victims.
Forty percent of the allocation for CARP
extension will be spent for support services, to all stakeholders
like credit and 30 percent will be used to liberalize agricultural
credit facilities for farmer beneficiaries.
Another key feature of the bill is the provision
recognizing the right of rural women to own and control land
distributed under the new CARP.
Lawmakers committed
The leading legislators appear to be truly
supportive of the extension.
“The House is committed to support CARP by
giving it a minimum allocation of P100 billion for implementation of
not more than five years,” said Rep. Edcel Lagman, chairman of the
House Appropriations Committee.
Lagman, the bill’s main sponsor, and Akbayan
Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, both confirmed the House committee
has already passed a consolidated substitute bill that integrates
other bills on CARP’s extension.
Agrarian reform advocate Edicio de la Torre
added that “We want our dear legislators to extend CARP with
significant reforms.” He is a former priest and one of those who
initiated the Church’s First National Rural Congress held in 1967
which marked one of the highlight activities that spelled the
Church’s preferential option for the poor. He was tagged by
national security forces either as a communist rebel or pro-rebel
activist.
Administration supporter Rep. Abraham Mitra said
that “the Caucus provided a good opportunity for legislators to
meet with bishops” and assured that the bill will pass the
scrutiny of the other members of the Congress. “Even legislators
want real reforms, not problems” in implementing CARP, he said.
Atty. Marlon Manuel, coordinator of the
Alternative Law Group, said CARP needs “a new lease on life”
through a bigger budget and farmers’ greater access to credit,
reiterating the bishops’ call.
Ignored proposals
Some advocates, discovering that some of their
proposals have not been integrated in the substitute bill, vowed to
work hard for their inclusion. Among these ignored proposals are
provisions giving DAR exclusive jurisdiction over agrarian reform
cases; strengthening of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council and
stiffer punishment for violators of the agrarian reform law.
The House version has four counterparts in the
Senate, each filed by Senators Gregorio Honasan, Miriam Defensor
Santiago, Juan Ponce Enrile and Rodolfo Biazon.
Honasan, chairman of the Senate Committee on
Agrarian Reform, said the Senate is inclined to approve CARP’s
extension but wants to strengthen the giving of support services to
farmers.
“It is not enough that we re-distribute the
land in the true spirit of agrarian reform but redistribute also the
means of production and support services like irrigation,” he
said. He also decried that CARP’s implementation does not
encourage farmers as it lacks support services, although gains have
been made in its 20 years of implementation.
“If we are lucky, we might have a CARP
extension by December,” said Gerardo Bulatao, civil society
stalwart and former DAR undersecretary.
Bulatao noted that a more radical bill, called
Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB), was filed by militant
party-list representatives in the House of Representatives. The bill
has been criticized as “confiscatory” by some Caucus 3
participants, but Bulatao said the bill simply provided for
“selective payment” for landowners who were not party to any
extrajudicial killing and corrupt practices, among others.
He also added that because of the framework
adopted by the GARB, it would probably be better implemented in a
revolutionary, rather than in the basically open and liberal
political regime that obtains in the Philippines.
According to Rep. Lagman, the GARB will not be
considered as a bill that seeks the extension of CARP, but will be
taken as a separate bill, subject to another scrutiny by the House.
Nograles himself reiterated the need not just to
extend the lifespan of CARP, but also to improve its implementation.
“After 20 years of implementation, we have
seen many loopholes in the CARP Law so we have to correct them
through this proposed extension law. For one, we really have to put
in place a provision prohibiting conversion of agricultural lands to
stop the decline of agricultural production and boost our food
security program,” Nograles said in a statement.
Nograles said the government must ensure support
for farmers and monitor developments in farmers’ lives.
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