Wednesday, June 11, 2008 [ philstar.com ]
Congress gave up last night on passing a bill seeking to extend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for another five years.
The 20-year-old CARP lapsed yesterday.
Sen. Gregorio Honasan, Senate committee on agrarian reform chairman, said the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) failed to account for the funds used in implementing CARP.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. had demanded that Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman make an accounting of the funds spent for CARP during his watch.
“The accounting of the funds will determine his fitness to implement the CARP once it is extended,” he said.
He gave Pangandaman until 3 p.m. yesterday to furnish the Senate with the accounting of funds, Pimentel said.
At the House of Representatives, lawmakers, after an hour-long closed door caucus, agreed to just pass a resolution extending up to December the CARP’s land acquisition and distribution component.
Speaker Prospero Nograles told reporters yesterday even if the House had not passed the bill, Congress would not extend the CARP because the Senate’s version is still in the committee level.
Minority Leader San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora told reporters yesterday it would “take a miracle” to approve a five-year extension of the CARP.
“…because you would be extending the mistakes committed in the program’s implementation,” he said.
However, Zamora said Nograles and Majority Leader Arthur Defensor have committed themselves to approve the bill before Congress goes on recess this weekend.
“I don’t know how they can do that in the last two session days, but good luck to them,” he said.
“I hope they can find some magic formula to convince their own colleagues in the majority to support the bill.”
Those strongly opposed to the CARP’s extension are allies of President Arroyo, Zamora said.
Honasan said the documents on land acquisition and distribution required by Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Rodolfo Biazon and Joker Arroyo had been submitted yesterday afternoon.
“(But) the documents are not yet processed and assessed,” he said. “So I am not worried about the deadline because we still need to reconcile the data.”
Honasan said the Senate would not act hastily on the matter so government funds would not be wasted.
“This (agrarian reform) is in the Constitution and in the budget, so what the committee will do now, unless there is a special session, is it will just continue to gather information,” he said.
Honasan said his committee would continue to hear the bills on CARP even after Congress goes on recess on June 11.
“This is not to anybody’s advantage because like what we are saying repeatedly, we will not sacrifice the decision of the Upper Chamber for political expediency,” he said.
“I think it would help (if senators get to study the proposals further) because we are proposing an ad hoc committee on monitoring and oversight.
“The farmers’ interests will not be jeopardized and the beneficiaries will not be put at risk.”
Honasan said they want to make sure that the allocation of funds would be strictly monitored this time.
“It cannot be business as usual,” he said.
Arroyo said the DAR could not even give a list of lands acquired and thus it should not be given additional money.
“CARP is a failure because of corruption,” he said.
“Now they want to expropriate even 10 hectares and leave the owner with three hectares. But these are properties of the poor and they bought them with their hard-earned money.”
The funds must be allocated for support services for farmers who had received lands instead of using them for land acquisition, Arroyo said.
Over the weekend, the bill’s authors said Mrs. Arroyo can still save CARP even with just two days left in the first regular session of Congress.
Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said Mrs. Arroyo’s certification that Bill 4077 is “urgent” apparently was not enough for her allies in Congress to support the CARP extension bill.
Another supporter of the bill, Anak Mindanao Rep. Mujiv Hataman, urged Mrs. Arroyo’s allies to take the cue from her.
“They should respect her certification of the bill as urgent by no longer raising obstacles to its approval like questioning the quorum,” he said.
Hataman, who belongs to the minority, said it is ironic that it is members of the pro-administration bloc who are questioning the quorum when the CARP’s extension is an administration bill.
Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said the House should no longer rush approval of its version of the CARP extension bill.
“It’s already impossible for Congress to extend the program before it expires on Tuesday,” he said.
Even if the House passes its version, the Senate will have to approve its own version.
“Then they will have to convene a conference committee to draft the final version. This process cannot be completed next week even if we meet until Friday.”
Casiño said he doubted whether many of his colleagues would still attend the session on Thursday.
“They are already on vacation mode, next week’s recess being a long break,” he said.
Earlier, Nograles vowed to have the bill approved.
“I am committed to pass the bill and the House will pass it before we adjourn on June 13. My support for CARP’s extension is non-negotiable,” he said.
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