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Arroyo signs CARP extension bill into law


Republic Act 9700: CARPer Law


Lawyer Aison Garcia of Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (SALIGAN) enumerated the following salient points of the newly signed Republic Act 9700 or the law extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program 1. Categorical policy against land conversion; 2. Gender provisions giving greater rights to woman farmers; 3. Provisions giving the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) power to do compulsory acquisition and a budget of P150 billion for five years; 4. Provisions for the automatic referral to the DAR of agrarian-related cases especially criminal cases against farmers; 5. Provisions giving farmers more participation in the planning and implementation of the CARP 6. Indefeasibility of emancipation patents and certificates of land ownership award Garcia emphasized two “weak points" of the new law: 1. Landowner attestation requirement; 2. Prioritization of regular farm workers and tenants as agrarian reform beneficiaries, thus considering seasonal farm workers as lesser priority Also, under the new CARPer law, only limited voluntary offer to sell and compulsory acquisition are allowed. Voluntary land transfer is not mandated by this new law - GMANews.TV
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed into law on Friday a bill extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for another five years. President Arroyo signed Republic Act 9700 in Plaridel, Bulacan two weeks after she urged Congress in her State of the Nation Address last July 27 to immediately pass the bill extending the program. The law allocates P150 billion for the program. Sixty percent of the fund will be for land acquisition and distribution, while the rest will be for support services. The signing of the law was witnessed by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, House Speaker Prospero Nograles, Senator Gregorio Honasan who is the principal author of the Senate version, Cabinet members and local officials of Bulacan. According to an article posted on the Malacañang website, Mrs. Arroyo chose to sign the bill into law in Bulacan because her father, former President Diosdado Macapagal, signed the first land reform law 46 years ago in the same province. Signed originally into law by the late President Corazon Aquino in 1988, the CARP was scheduled to run for 10 years, but it was repeatedly extended as the program was unable to meet its targets due to its alleged inherent flaws. Malacañang certified the CARP extension bill as “urgent" amid pressures from Church and farmer groups. The House of Representatives ratified the approved bicameral bill Wednesday last week. On the other hand, the Senate did the same on Monday as a tribute to President Aquino. Mrs. Aquino, who signed the CARP law as one of the flagship programs of her administration, died early morning of August 1 due to cardiorespiratory arrest. She was diagnosed with colon cancer March 2008. Distribute Arroyo lands in Negros Despite Mrs. Arroyo’s signing of the bill, Akbayan party-list Representative Ana Theresia Hontiveros, one of the principal authors of the “CARP extension with reform" bill and a critic of the administration, said credit should not be accorded to her. "This could have been signed more than a year ago had the administration exercised political will in pushing for the passage of the bill," Hontiveros said. She said credit should go to the farmers who lobbied for it. "If it were not for the perseverance and persistence of the farmers this would not have been approved. The extended and reformed agrarian reform law is the legacy of the farmers to the Filipino people," she said.
She also dared President Arroyo to distribute her family's 1,000-hectare land in Negros Occidental to show her sincerity in implementing the new law. "That will be the real barometer of her sincerity. She has to distribute the lands of her own family, and pave the way for the redistribution of more than 1 million hectares of private landholdings," Hontiveros said. - GMANews.TV
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