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By Efren Danao Senior Reporter
The prospects of the approval of
the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
(CARP) appear dim as Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Joker Arroyo
said that they would oppose any new measure that would include the
acquisition and distribution of new lands.
This came at the public hearing
on the CARP bill by the Senate Committee on Agrarian Reform headed
by Sen. Gregorio Honasan, where the implementation of CARP came
under intense fire from Senators Rodolfo Biazon, Arroyo and Enrile.
The CARP, enacted in 1988,
expires on June 17, 2008 unless it is extended.
Enrile and Arroyo said that a
bill that includes acquisition and distribution of new lands for
CARP would be debated intensely in the Senate. They said that with a
protracted debate, they do not see any possibility of the CARP
extension bill’s being approved before the First Regular Session
adjourns on June 13.
New proposal
from senators
They proposed that instead of
acquiring and distributing new lands, the new CARP should
concentrate its funding on the provision of extension services to
existing beneficiaries. The CARP bill prepared by Honasan provides
for a P147-billion fund for the five-year extension program.
Joker Arroyo, who was executive
secretary when President Gloria Arroyo signed the CARP law in 1988,
expressed his disappointment that the Department of Agrarian Reform
is still talking about acquisition and distribution of lands 20
years after the law’s enactment.
“A law that can no longer
achieve its goal after 20 years should no longer be extended. We
should concentrate first on revitalizing support services and
suspend acquisition,” he said.
Agriculture Undersecretary Bernie
Fodevilla admitted at the hearing that the distribution of land did
not result in the alleviation of poverty in the countryside. He
blamed this failure on the inadequacy of fund and technical supports
given to beneficiaries.
Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser
Pagdanganan said that 7.1 million hectares of land had already been
distributed to faramers. Of this amount 600,000 hectares are
privately owned and of which 500,000 hectares have been fully paid.
Only P7 billion remains to be paid to former landowners.
Enrile said that it was an
injustice for landowners to have their lands distributed to farmers
before, and then wait for a long time to get paid. He said that he
had to wait five years before he was paid for his two plantations in
Basilan.
“You will now have to pay for
making me wait for five years!” Enrile said.
Biazon called for an audit of the
land distributed and of their supposed beneficiaries as he cited
studies showing that a big number of reformed land are no longer
being planted to agricultural crops, and that up to 350,000
beneficiaries have already sold their rights to the land even before
the 10-year ban could expire.
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