DAR sees CARP extension, asks for P162B more
abs-cbnnews.com | 06/10/2008 12:22 PM
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By ISAGANI DE CASTRO, JR.
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Nasser Pangandaman believes the 20-year old Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) will be extended despite opposition from big landowners and their allies in Congrress.
“I’m very optimistic that it’s going to be extended because this is one of the priority programs of government, and this was discussed during the recent LEDAC [Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council] meeting,” Pangandaman told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.
He said opposition from landowners such as the Negros bloc in the House of Representatives is to be expected, “but looking at the numbers in both houses of Congress, I see that majority of legislators are supporting” an extension.
Unless extended this week or in a special session next week, funding for CARP’s land acquisition and distribution (LAD) will end, but the agrarian reform program continues. Pangandaman said LAD is the most important component of the program.
“We’re explaining to senators and congressmen that you cannot erase one component of the program, particularly the LAD because this is the heart of the program. If you remove the land component, the spirit of the program is gone,” he said.
In case it is not extended this week, Pangandaman said they will seek clarification from Congress on CARP’s legal status.
“This is one of the things we’re asking Congress. What if it will not be extended after June 13? What will we do in the meantime? We are clarifying this,” he said. “These are policy questions we have to tackle when the time comes.”
P162 billion more
The DAR is asking Congress for an additional P162 billion to be able to complete CARP in ten years.
Under a 2009-2018 plan submitted to Congress, DAR said it still has to distribute nearly 1.1 million hectares of private agricultural lands plus 802,220 hectares of land tenure improvement (LTI) and redocumentation of collective certificate of land ownership awards (CLOAs). The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) still has to cover 571,000 hectares of public lands. (See table)
Land Acquisition and Distribution
Targets
Private Agricultural Lands
1,077,538 hectares
Public alienable and disposable lands
570,944 hectares
Other land tenure activities
802,220 hectares
Source: Department of Agrarian Reform
Out of the planned P162 billion expenditures, P75 billion or 46% will be for LAD and LTI; P76 billion or 47% will be for program beneficiaries development, also referred to as support services; P10.7 billion or 7% will be for delivery of agrarian justice.
Previously, Pangandaman said DAR would allocate around 70% of the CARP budget to LAD. But in response to suggestions that that more resources have to be allocated to support services in order to increase farm productivity, the budget for PBD has been raised, thus giving it an almost equal share as LAD.
The DAR plans to launch an additional 130 new Agrarian Reform Communities (ARC) covering 2.6 million agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). ARCs are clustered areas where farm-to-market roads, communal irrigation systems, bridges, post-harvest facilities, power supply are concentrated.
Pangadaman said independent CARP impact studies on the impact of CARP have shown that in these ARCs, “lives of beneficiaries have really improved.”
“But in areas we have not provided support services, we really have a problem due to lack of funds. That is why, in our proposed extension, we want a bigger allocation for support services,” he said. “We plan to increase it to almost 50%.”
The DAR has identified the following sources of funds for an extended CARP:
Agency/Source
Amount
Asset Privatization Trust/Privatization Management Office
P 248 million annually
Presidential Commission on Good Government recoveries and sales
P 23.48 billion assets
P 200 billion worth of cases to be resolved
Income and collections of Land Bank of the Philippines
P 250 million annually
General Appropriations Act
P 3 billion minimum annually
Foreign grants and aids
(no data available)
Source: Department of Agrarian Reform
Nograles optimistic
On Monday, House Speaker Prospero Nograles urged his colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass the bill extending CARP.
In a statement, Nograles said he “remains highly optimistic that the CARP extension law will be passed by the House within the week and hopes that the Senate will likewise give the the CARP a new lease in life.”
“I am very thankful that the President has certified the extension bill as a national urgent concern," he said.
House Bill 4077
Last week, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has certified as urgent House Bill 4077 seeking the extension of CARP for another five years.
Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said the President wrote Senate President Manuel Villar and House Speaker Prospero Nograles on June 3 calling on Congress to approve House Bill 4077, or “An Act Sustaining the Implementation of CARP, Extending the Acquisition and Distribution of All Agricultural Lands, Instituting Necessary Reforms and Appropriation of Funds.”
The proposal is embodied in Report No. 506 of the House’s committee on agrarian reform.
Among others, HB 4077 provides for:
subsidized credit for agrarian reform beneficiaries;
recognition of women as CARP beneficiaries;
recognition of the indefeasibility of emancipation patents and certificates of land ownership awards;
upholds the exclusive jurisdiction of the DAR over agrarian-related disputes;
creation of a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee (COC) on the implementation of the CARP.
Nograles said that since Monday was a holiday, the lower house will hold session on Thursday, June 12. The lower house normally holds sessions only from Monday to Wednesday.
He expressed hope that during the three remaining session days, all amendments will be put in place, the period of interpellation is completed so that the measure can be endorsed for third reading-approval.
Nograles pointed out that even if the lower house approves the bill this week, it will only mean half of the work done since “we still have the Senate to contend with.”
Nograles said extending the 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.”
He agreed with DAR Secretary Nasser Pangandaman that CARP been "generally successful" despite the numerous problems encountered in the past 20 years of implementation.
Congress adjourns on June 13, Friday. It will reconvene on July 28 for the President’s State of the Nation Address.
