Updated June 04, 2009 12:00 AM [ philstar.com ]
MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives approved last night the five-year extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) until 2014, amid protests and lightning rallies staged by militant farmers who destroyed the north gate of the Batasan Complex in Quezon City.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, one of the main authors of House Bill 4077, made numerous amendments to the original measure, which included, among others, the involvement of farmers who will have “greater control of farm gate prices and easier access to credit.”
The measure amends Republic Act 6656 or the CARP Law of 1988, which expired in December 2008 but was extended by a Joint Resolution 19 of the Senate and the House until June 30 this year.
The joint resolution only extended the LAD (land acquisition and distribution) component of CARP until June 2009 without including the compulsory acquisition of the remaining 1.3 million hectares of private agricultural lands.
Another amendment was that “prioritization of coverage shall not be necessary, and that the modes of acquisition shall be limited to voluntary offer to sell and compulsory acquisition.” The compulsory acquisition provision was restored.
Other salient features include the allocation of P100 billion for land acquisition and distribution and other funding requirements of CARP and the allocation of “30 percent appropriations for support services to liberalized terms on agricultural credit facilities.
Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman said his department still has about 1.3 million hectares to cover under the CARP, which is estimated to benefit around 700,000 farmers nationwide.
“We have actually increased our annual LAD target” from 100,000 hectares to 130,000 hectares since 2005, he said.
Pangandaman said as of June 3, the Department of Agrarian Reform has acquired and distributed around 7.2 million hectares of private and public agricultural lands. – With Katherine Adraneda
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