06/10/2008 [ tribune.net.ph ]
A high-ranking official of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) yesterday said if Congress fails to extend the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), all of the agency’s recoveries that used to be poured into the program, as mandated by law, will be remitted to the national government for its use.
As its implementing law has pegged its period of implementation, CARP is slated to expire today.
According to PCGG Commissioner Narciso Nario, after the expiration of CARP the PCGG’s subsequent wins in court cases over the famed Marcos wealth would be remitted to the national government.
The PCGG estimated that the Marcoses and their alleged cronies have billions of pesos of alleged ill-gotten wealth stashed in various banks and foundations here and abroad.
“Assuming that CARP would not be extended, then it follows that all our recoveries would go to the general fund for the government,” he said.
The extension of the 20-year-old land reform law is currently being discussed in Congress, which is set to adjourn sine die tomorrow.
Reports said while the House of Representatives has been rushing to approve the bill, the Senate appears lukewarm to giving it a new lease in life.
Reports also said senators have received the documents they required of the Department of Agrarian Reform to help them decide on the proposed extension of CARP, including inventory of lands, intended beneficiaries and an “impact assessment” of an extended CARP.
But with the present situation, the best effort of the legislative body is to have the bill sponsored in plenary before session adjourns.
Meanwhile, House Bill 4077, seeking for a five-year extension for CARP, has been filed in the lower chamber and is awaiting passage.
Speaker Prospero Nograles and House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor Sr. said CARP’s extension is on top of their agenda.
The bill was certified as urgent by President Arroyo last June 3.
Earlier, administration ally Sen. Joker Arroyo said he favors the extension, but with reservations. Sen. Arroyo, being the executive secretary of then President Corazon “Cory” Aquino, signed the proclamation announcing the launch of the Agrarian Reform Law in 1987.
Nograles yesterday said social justice and national interest will reign supreme in the current debate on the proposed extension of CARP, as he called on his colleagues in the House to rally behind the cause of the farmers who have yet to have their own lands to till.
He said extending CARP for another five years, minus the defects of the original law, will not only give the farmers their own piece of land but will also help in ensuring food security. Jason Faustino and Charlie V. Manalo
____________________________________________________________________
