08/05/2009 [ tribune.net.ph ]
President Arroyo will sign into law the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) extension bill on Friday, Malacañang yesterday said.
Secretary to the Cabinet Silvestre Bello III said in a radio interview that Mrs. Arroyo will sign the CARP extension bill in Plaridel, Bulacan, where her father, the late former President Diosdado Macapagal, also held the signing of the very first land reform law.
"Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman told me that Mrs. Arroyo will hold a ceremonial signing of the CARP extension bill in Plaridel, Bulacan," Bello said.
According to Bello, President Arroyo certified as urgent the CARP extention bill after Catholic bishops and farmer groups lobbied for its extension.
President Arroyo has cut-short her trip to the United States and is scheduled to return to the country before dawn on Wednesday in time for the funeral of former President Corazon Aquino who died on Saturday at the Makati Medical Center.
The Senate on Monday ratified the five-year extension of the CARP as their tribute to Mrs. Aquino.
The five-year extension would be for the final acquisition and distribution of all remaining unacquired and undistributed agricultural lands.
The House of Representatives ratified the CARP extension bill last week.
The CARP, which was first implemented in 1988, was originally scheduled to run for 10 years. The program’s failure in meeting its targets and its alleged inherent flaws led to clamor for the law’s extension.
PNA
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