[ journal.com.ph ] June 2, 2008
NEARLY two million hectares of agricultural land are waiting to be distributed to the rightful beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) which will expire on June 10, according to a principal author of the CARP law.
Rep. Edcel Lagman (Lakas, Albay), however, is apprehensive that such distribution will not materialize if Congress fails to extend the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) component of CARP that will eventually lead to the “demise” of the program.
Lagman said a total of 1,858,792 hectares of agricultural land nationwide are available for acquisition during the five-year extension period proposed in House Bill No.4077.
The congressman explained that LAD is central to CARP, a reason why Congress has to extend the program in compliance with the 1987 Constitution.
Lagman said the Constitution mandates that the “State shall, by law, undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right of farmers and regular farm workers who are landless to own directly or collectively the lands they till and likewise undertake the just distribution of agricultural lands.”
Lagman said CARP must be thoroughly and immediately reviewed to effect the necessary reforms after the LAD extension proposed in the bill is approved into law. Raul S. Beltran
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