MANILA, Philippines – Lawmakers have agreed to retain a provision in the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp), which mandates the compulsory land acquisition and distribution scheme, a senior member of the House of Representatives disclosed.
Congressman Edcel Lagman of Albay province in the Bicol Region described the provision as the “heart and soul” of Carp which the House and the Senate had extended for six more months until June 2009 when it lapsed in December 2008.
But in doing so, Lagman said the resolution passed by Senate and the House deleted the compulsory acquisition component from the Carp’s land distribution provision amid widespread protests from farmers and religious groups.
The groups denounced the deletion as a “victory” for the powerful lobby of private landowners “masquerading” in particular as members of the House.
The reason given, Lagman said, was to allow lawmakers to study the possibility of giving the program a longer life of as much as five years.
In a series of meetings, Lagman disclosed that Senate and House representatives came to a clear and firm consensus to restore the compulsory acquisition of private agricultural lands in the five-year extension of Carp.
For his part, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the two chambers have agreed to form a technical working group to draft the proposed extension of Carp and come up with a common version of the proposal.
Enrile pointed out there was not much difference between the Senate and the House versions.
However, he explained they agreed create the technical working group to ensure that the necessary reforms would be included in the Carp extension bill, like the compulsory acquisition of lands that have not been subjected to distribution to the farmer beneficiaries.
With the drafting of a bill that is acceptable both to the House and the Senate, there will be less debate and discussions and the measure would have a greater chance of being passed before the mandatory adjournment of Congress in June, according to Enrile.
He stressed: “Time is of the essence. We can’t dribble this because it’s the country and the welfare of the people which is at stake here.”
Lagman agreed, saying that land reform would not work without the compulsory acquisition component.
Without compulsory acquisition, Lagman said the only way farmers can acquire land would be through voluntary land transfer and voluntary offer to sell, which essentially leaves everything up to the owners.
He cited data from the Department of Agrarian Reform that since the start of the six-month extension of Carp last January, no application has been made for the voluntary transfer or sale of land.
“This validates the apprehension that the remaining landowners resisting coverage will not avail themselves of the voluntary land transfer and voluntary offer to sell,” Lagman said.
Earlier, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) urged Congress to pass the bill extending for another five years Carp, which gives top priority for compulsory acquisition and redistribution an area of 50 hectares and up.
The bill also seeks to allocate the equivalent of $600 million a year for the program which aims for the compulsory acquisition of about 1.2 million hectares of private agricultural lands for distribution to the farmers.
Loading ...
Reader’s Views