Capiz officials, farmers want CARP extended
ROXAS CITY – Officials and farmers in Capiz maintain their hope that Congress will soon approve the five-year extension in the implementation of the Department of Agrarian Reform's (DAR) Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
DAR Capiz Provincial head Eberardo Erispe said " he is positive that the law makers will listen to the voice of the farmers by approving another 5-year extension in CARP implementation.
Erispe said that Capiz has about 10,000 more hectares for distribution to approximately 6,500 farmer beneficiaries should the extension be made.
The Agrarian Reform law expired last June 10.
Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman has clarified that the CARP will not expire on June 15 but in December yet, hence, farmers need not worry on the CARP's land acquisition and distribution's component.
He explained that the land acquisition and distribution component of CARP was extended up to December 2008 when Republic Act No. 6657, or the 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), was amended in 1998.
Pangandaman said that it is the position of both Congress and DAR that the land acquisition and distribution component of CARP remains effective until Dec. 2008.
He said that CARP needs to be extended for at least another five years to give DAR enough time for the acquisition and distribution of the remaining 1.8 million hectares under the program.
Under his watch, DAR distributed an average of 130,000 hectares annually, Pangandaman said, adding that of the total of 9.1 million hectares targeted for distribution under the program, some 7.1 million hectares have already been distributed.
Of the remaining two million hectares, Pangandaman said, 1.8 million hectares are private agricultural lands to be acquired and distributed by DAR, while the remaining 200,000 hectares of public lands will be distributed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Capiz' target under the CARP's LAD component reached 62,838 hectares and only about 56,640 hectares were distributed, benefiting some 33,363 Capiceño farmer beneficiaries. (PIA/Jemin B. Guillermo)