Law needed to effect land acquisition, land distribution of 1.2M has. CARP land
Representative Ferjenel Biron of the 4th District of Iloilo said there is a need to pass a law to effect the land acquisition and distribution of remaining1.2 million hectares of land in the country which is covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of the government.
Biron and four other solons were in Iloilo City Wednesday for a policy consultations on agrarian reform and rural development. He is one of the members of the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) which is conducting series of hearings on the proposed extension of CARP.
A provision of the CARP Law states that the land acquisition and distribution will end on 2008. Though, not the entire program is suspended. At present, two CARP House Bills were filed to address the land acquisition and land distribution.
Rep. Abraham Kahil Mitra of Palawan authored House bill 5698, An Act Strengthening Further the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) by Providing Augmentation Fund Thereof, Amending for this Purpose Sections 2,3,6 and 63 of RA 6657 otherwise known as the "The CARP Law of 1998", as amended by RA 7905 and RA 8532, Directing the Conduct of a Process for CARP Impact Validation and For Other Purposes.
Part of House bill 5698 calls for the augmentation fund for the implementation of CARP. The bill wants that an additional amount of P50 billion to cover the funding requirements of the CARP for an extension of five years after 2008. This is coupled with an increase in the yearly general appropriations for CARP from P3 billion to P5 billion with the General Fund as one of the sources of fund for agrarian reform implementation.
Likewise, the bill wants for a creation of an oversight committee to further strengthen and ensure the sustainability of the agrarian reform program. The same bill calls for a sustainable type of agrarian reform program should be pursued, increase the allocation for support services and increase the minimum number of agrarian reform communities to be established per year, per legislative district with predominant agricultural population.
While, Rep. Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel of the Akbayan party list authored House Bill 5743, An Act Accelerating the Completion of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), By Providing Automatic Appropriation Therefor, And Addressing Major Implementation Problems, Amending for the Purpose Republic Act No. 6657, as Amended, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988.
The series of consultations was meant to get inputs from among the farmer beneficiaries themselves. The result of the hearings will be submitted to the technical working group and be deliberated on a plenary session at the House of Representative.
Biron said "political will" is needed for a real land reform program. The government should implement the program without fear or favor. The government should look seriously on the land reform problems which affects the program
However, in pursuit of the real land reform program, the rights of the owners should also be considered. "Owners have also their rights, they should also be justly and promptly compensated, " said Biron.
In Western Visayas, there are 462,317 hectares of land which are covered by CARP. Only 349,404 were distributed to the beneficiaries. There are still 112,913 hectares of undistributed land.
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in the region identified some of the challenges they met in the implementation of the program. These includes the failure of agrarian reform beneficiaries to pay the amortization religiously, alienating awarded lands ( the lands were either mortgage, sale and sublease) and delaying tactics of land owners to submit their land into the CARP program.