MANILA – A Congress special session is not needed to extend the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP) for another five years, a senior administration lawmaker said.
Congressman Edcel Lagman of Albay province in the Bicol Region, the principal sponsor of the bill in the House of Representatives, explained Carp’s five-year extension, particularly its provision on land acquisition and distribution, was made retroactive to July 1, 2009.
As such, Lagman pointed out there is no need for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to call the House and the Senate to a special session as demanded by concerned sectors to tackle the bill.
Lagman also revealed that members of the bicameral conference committee, composed of select representatives from the House and the Senate, are to meet Tuesday to thresh out the conflicting provisions of the bill as passed by the two chambers.
“We do not expect any prolonged discussions in the bicameral conference since the two bills are similar in many of their major provisions,” the Albay lawmaker stressed.
He said once the conflicting provisions are resolved, the bill would be submitted for ratification by both the House and the Senate when Congress resumes its regular session on July 27.
If ratified, an enrolled copy of the bill would be sent to Malacanang for signature into law by President Arroyo sometime in August, Lagman said.
Fears were expressed earlier that the bill, certified as urgent by Malacanang, would not be passed, especially by the House, which gave top priority to the approval of a resolution reviving the controversial issue of Charter change (Cha-cha) before Congress adjourned for a one-month recess on June 5.
Its approval sparked widespread outrage from the political opposition as well as religious, civil society and militant groups which charged that Cha-cha aims to prolong the stay of President Arroyo in Malacanang when her term expires in 2010.
Meanwhile, Lagman pointed out that the differences between the House and Senate versions of the Carp extension are limited and could be resolved soonest in the bicameral conference committee.
Carp lapsed on December 30, 2008 but Congress passed the bill extending the programme for another five years for the compulsory government acquisition of lands not yet covered, which are to be distributed to an additional 1.2 million of the country’s landless farmers in order to improve their lives.
One of the conflicting provisions, Lagman said, is the issue of funding. The Senate, he said, proposed the allocation of the equivalent of $3 billion for the programme while the House batted for smaller amount of $2 billion.
Another is the priority to be accorded to the coverage of the programme based on land sizes, the lawmaker pointed out.
He said the Senate proposed a staggered coverage while the House version authorized the Department of Agrarian Reform to cover all remaining agricultural lands without the need for prioritization.
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