MANILA – A brother-in-law of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been assailed for heading a group land-owning legislators who are reportedly determined to stop the passage in the House of Representatives of a bill extending the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme (Carp) for another five years.
An administration lawmaker identified the President’s relative as Congressman Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo of Negros Occidental province in the Visayas.
However, the lawmaker requested that his name be withheld for fear of reprisal, including the non-release of his “pork barrel” allocation equivalent to about $1.2 million for each House member this year.
Ignacio is the younger brother of lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo, the husband of the President. Their sister, Maria Lourdes Arroyo, is also a member of the House, representing a party-list group known as “Kasangga” (Partner).
The lawmaker disclosed that although the bill which seeks to extend Carp, has been subjected to floor debates in the House, Ignacio and his group, composed of congressmen who own large tracts of land, are determined to block its approval.
The Arroyo group, which belongs to the majority, has threatened to question the quorum if the House tries to approve it, the lawmaker lamented. Usually, he said, it is the minority that raises the question of quorum.
The lawmaker pointed out in the roll call conducted whenever the House starts its session, the chamber never recorded the presence of 200 out of the total of 270 congressmen.
“The Arroyo group is taking advantage of the situation to continue blocking the approval of the bill to extend for another five years Carp which expired on December 30, 2008,” the lawmaker said.
He expressed fear that the House would not be able to approve the bill as he noted that as of Monday, Congress has only three session days left before Congress is to adjourn for a month-long break on June 5.
The lawmaker also noted that the Arroyo group appears bent on blocking its approval although the President has certified the bill as urgent in her message to Congress.
The bill seeks to allocate $20 million as additional funding for Carp’s extension, mainly for the compulsory purchase of rice and corn lands not covered by the programme for distribution to about 1.2 million farmers nationwide.
According to the lawmaker, Ignacio and his group own vast tracts of land which are to be covered for compulsory government purchase if the bill is approved.
Worsening the situation, the lawmaker stressed, is the threat of House Speaker Prospero Nograles of Davao City in Mindanao, to shelve the bill if militant farmers continue to block the main gate and exit points of the sprawling Congress compound in suburban Quezon City, Metro Manila.
On orders of Nograles, House security personnel and policemen demolished the makeshift structures put up by the farmers in front of the main gate since early April to press their demand for the approval of the bill.
This developed as Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile vowed to pass the Carp extension bill and several other measures before Congress adjourns on Thursday.
Senate Minority Leader agreed, saying they are determined to pass the bill despite an unresolved dispute between the majority and the minority over the ethics complaint filed against former Senate president Manuel Villar.
“I am confident that the Carp bill, a social justice legislation much awaited by our marginalized farmers, will not be a casualty of the ongoing internal conflict in the Senate,” Pimentel said.
He added that Senator Gregorio Honasan, the principal sponsor of the bill along with Enrile, is now in the process of refining the committee amendments already adopted by the chamber for approval on third and final reading possibly on Wednesday.
Loading ...
Reader’s Views