Wednesday, May 7, 2008 [ philstar.com ]
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo yesterday said the ancestral lands of the Arroyo family should not be spared from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
At the end of the two-day Bishop-Legislators Caucus III–Agrarian Reform Summit of Stakeholders, Lagdameo said the Arroyo government, through its agency the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), should ensure that the property of the First Family would be included in the land acquisition and distribution program.
When asked if the CBCP, which has been pushing for a CARP extension, would take any measures to make sure that the Arroyo property would be included, Lagdameo said, “It is not for us to appeal to President Arroyo, but for DAR to impose the law.”
He added that the implementation of the 20-year agrarian reform should serve as a challenge to the government, through DAR, the farmers and the landlords. He appealed to their “sense of justice, sense of charity and to follow the law.”
Akbayan Partylist Rep. Riza Hontiveros-Baraquel challenged President Arroyo to “put all political weight on the House of Representatives to pass the bill on CARP reforms, to voluntarily order that the Arroyo lands be covered under CARP.”
Eden Sobrecanay of Task Force Mapalad mentioned that three haciendas are reportedly owned by the Arroyo family.
The 157-hectare Hacienda Bacay is owned by the First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo while the 196-hectare Hacienda Grande and the 16-hectare Hacienda Paraiso are said to be owned by the First Gentleman’s uncle Antonio Arroyo.
The three properties reportedly have already received notices of conversion into agro-industrial land.
But Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, interjected that this is not the right time to point out those who have allegedly not yet complied with CARP.
“The issue at the moment is the problem on the implementation of DAR and not on a particular landholding. The present issue is the extension, land acquisition and distribution of CARP. If we cannot extend, then we cannot implement. Let us face the issue first before we can implement,” Lagman said.
DAR Undersecretary Gerundio Madueno could not give a definite answer if the Arroyo lands have been approved for conversion into agro-industrial lands.
Yesterday, officials from the Church, government agencies such as DAR and House of Representatives, and non-government organizations (NGO) gathered at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center along United Nations Avenue, Manila to conclude their two-day summit.
At 1 p.m. the participants came out with a letter titled “A United Stand for CARP Extension and Reform.”
A copy of the letter, said Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, would be forwarded to the President today.
“We are arranging an audience with the President,
hopefully tomorrow but it would depend on her availability.”
They are hoping that the agrarian reform program would be extended before it expires on June 15.
In the letter, they cited 11 measures that they hope the government would implement, including a bigger budget to ensure CARP completion in five to seven years.
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