MANILA – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies in the House of Representatives assured the approval of a bill extending the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP) for another five years, a Malacanang spokesman reported.
The assurance came following widespread fears that lawmakers, particularly members of the House, no longer have the time to approve the bill because Congress is to adjourn “sine die” on June 5.
But during a meeting in Malacanang, the spokesman said the President and her allies assured the representative of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) that they would pass the bill before Congress adjourns.
Aside from President Arroyo, those who attended the Malacanang meeting were House Speaker Prospero Nograles of Davao City in Mindanao, Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan, the principal sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, and Broderick Pabilo, the  auxiliary bishop of Manila who represented the CBCP, the spokesman said.
The bill seeks to extend Carp for another five years and allocate the equivalent of $200 million for the compulsory acquisition of rice, corn and other lands not yet covered by the programme.
While the bill is pending, the House and the Senate earlier adopted a resolution temporarily extending Carp until June 30 this year while they are finalizing the proposal for the programme’s extension for another five years.
The Carp, considered as the government’s major legislation for social justice by enabling millions of farmers to own the land they till, expired on December 30, 2008.
Despite the assurance, however, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of the archdiocese of Jaro, Iloilo province in the Visayas and the CBCP president, alerted farmers groups and other concerned sectors to be on the lookout against the possibility of “killer amendments” being inserted in the final version of the Carp bill.
Lagdameo warned it is not far-fetched for some lawmakers, mainly those who are landowners themselves, to introduce such amendments which will effectively emasculate the Carp’s main objective to improve the lives of the millions of landless Filipino farmers.
Besides, the CBCP president reminded that time is of the essence because as of Monday, there are only nine session days left for the House and the Senate to act on the bill.
Bishop Pabilo, who represented the CBCP at the Malacanang meeting, shared the concern of Lagdameo as he pointed out:
“We are not afraid that the bill would not be passed because they (lawmakers) would be embarrassed if they don’t. What we are afraid of is that the bill would be emasculated and that is why we will monitor all possible moves to insert killer amendments, meaning they would remove provisions that would weaken the bill.”
Pabilo, who chairs CBCP’s National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace, warned Congress might insert amendments like allocating a much smaller budget for Carp’s extension as well as exempting rice and corn plantations from Carp.
Various groups also warned against the introduction of killer amendments that could defeat the very purpose of Carp by being biased in favor of landowners who have evaded coverage under Carp at the expense of the landless farmers.
The groups included the Mindanao Farm Workers Development Center, Association of Agrarian Reform Communities, Peace Foundation and the Alternative Community-Centered Organization for Rural Development.
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