House majority wants CARP extension joint resolution amended
A group of lawmakers at the House of Representatives on Wednesday moved to amend the joint resolution agreed upon by both Chambers of Congress which extends the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for another six months.
Instead, the group decided to come up with another resolution extending the CARP implementation until June 30, 2009 but minus the compulsory acquisition component of the program.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, in a press briefing after the all-party caucus on CARP, said an "overwhelming" number of congressmen instead want to draft a new resolution wherein the extended CARP will only cover lands through the voluntary offer to sell (VOS) and voluntary land transfer (VLT) schemes.
He explained that the exclusion of private agricultural lands which have already been subjected to notices of coverage under Section 16 of Republic Act No. 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) from coverage of the proposed amended resolution "is a simulated extension of the land acquisition and distribution component of CARP and a virtual requiem for the program."
Under the amended House joint resolution now authored by Speaker Prospero Nograles, Majority Leader Rep. Arthur Defensor, and Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, it extended CARP implementation till June 30, 2009 for private agricultural lands whose landowners have offered their lands under VOS and VLT only.
The amended resolution also directed the DAR to continue its support services to farmer beneficiaries that have already been acquired and distributed as of Dec. 15, 2008. (PNA)