Senate approves CARP extension

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate approved yesterday on third and final reading a bill extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for another five years, with P147 billion funding to provide necessary support services to farmers benefiting from land acquisition and distribution.

Voting 12-0-2, the senators passed Senate Bill 2666, or An Act Strengthening CARP.

Those who voted for the bill were Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Senators Joker Arroyo, Pia Cayetano, Manuel Roxas II, Richard Gordon, Rodolfo Biazon, Francis Pangilinan, Francis Escudero, Manuel Lapid and Gregorio Honasan, former chair of the committee on agrarian reform who sponsored the proposed measure.

Those who abstained were Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Sen. Benigno Aquino III.

Senators said the bill was not easy to deliberate on, especially since they noted the failure of the Department of Agrarian Reform to effectively implement the CARP approved earlier.

They cited the need to make sure that the new law would have the necessary safeguards so there would be no need to extend the program anew after five years.

Mrs. Arroyo certified the bill as urgent as various sectors had clamored for the passage of the bill. When certified as urgent, Congress can go into second and third reading on the same day, bypassing a three-day notice under the rules of each chamber.

Under SB 2666, a funding of P147 billion was proposed to complete the distribution of at least 1.6 million hectares of land to farmer-beneficiaries, Honasan said.

Agrarian Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said the lands would have to be distributed to some 400,000 farmers.

Honasan said there were actually 1.2 million farmers who would need to have their own land.

Under the proposed measure, a stronger oversight committee will be created to consolidate database on distributed lands and number of beneficiaries and monitor the implementation of the program on a yearly basis.

The Senate has also reinstated the compulsory land acquisition and distribution (LAD) component of CARP, which Honasan said was the “core component” of the program.

‘Corporative’ ownership

Honasan said the bill allows “corporative” ownership and development of the lands awarded to farmers simultaneous with industrialization.

“But our commitment was that the essence, core component would be there. It’s not a matter of redistributing the lands but production, means of production,” he explained. – With Jess Diaz