Congress stokes farmers' dreams of land

MANILA, Philippines – In danger of dying at the hands of a lower house fixated on charter change, land reform got a new lease on life Tuesday night. The congressional bicameral conference committee reconciled the two versions of the bill that would extend the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for five years, reaffirming the law's power to compel landowners to turn over more than a million hectares of agricultural lands to tenants and farm workers. Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the principal author of the bill in the House of Representatives, said both houses of Congress would ratify the CARP extension bill when session resumes on July 27. "We will ratify the bill in the morning before the SONA (State of the Nation Address) so that the enrolled bill can be submitted to Malacañang the next day," Lagman told reporters in an interview after the meeting. He said the committee has discarded voluntary land transfer as one of the modes of acquisition since it is "flawed and corrupted" and allegedly being used by some individuals to circumvent the program. The reconciled version of the bill provides for P150-billion for the implementation of the program in the next five years, or from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2014. There are still 1.3 million hectares of agricultural lands that have to be distributed to beneficiaries. The bill defines the beneficiaries as tenants and regular farm workers. Under the bill, the lands can be acquired through voluntary offer to sell and compulsory acquisition. Land acquisition and distribution shall be completed by end of June 2014 on a province by province basis. The acquisition and distribution of the lands will be done through phasing by prioritizing lands with a total area of more than 50 hectares. Only after 90 percent of the lands have been acquired and distributed can phase 2 of the program start. In the second phase, lands with a total area of 50 hectares to 24 hectares will be the subject of acquisition and distribution. After 90 percent of completion, lands with a total area of 24 hectares to 10 hectares will be the next priority for the third phase of the program. The bill also provides the creation of a congressional oversight committee on agrarian reform to monitor the implementation of the program. The original CARP expired last December 31, but it was extended for six months or until June 30 this year but without the compulsory acquisition mode of acquiring land, that one element that gave the law teeth. Malacañang certified the CARP bill urgent after Catholic bishops and farmer groups lobbied for it. The enactment of the measure has long been awaited by more than a million legitimate agrarian reform beneficiaries who will be entitled to a parcel of land. Present in the bicameral meeting were Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Senators Gregorio “Gringo" Honasan, Pilar Juliana Cayetano, and Richard Gordon. Among the members of the House panel were House Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. Reps Lagman, Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel, Salvador Escudero III, Rodolfo Antonino, Michael John Duavit, and Elias Bulut. The Senate passed its version on June 1 while the House version was passed on June 3. - GMANews.TV