Pimentel warns of delays in CARPer Bill's approval

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the amendments to the law on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) should be in place before its six-month extension period ends on June 30.

However, Pimentel said there are stumbling blocks that threaten Congress’ approval of the amendments to extend CARP by at least five years, allocate additional funds, and institute reforms, especially land acquisition and distribution and providing support services to agrarian reform beneficiaries.

The senator lamented that Senate deliberations on the bill have been hampered by the poor response of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman to the Senate’s request for data on the implementation of CARP since l988, particularly the disbursement and utilization of funds.

Biggest block

“The biggest stumbling block to the amendments of the CARP is Secretary Pangandaman because he does not seem to care. I believe that the secretary of agrarian reform should be proactive. He should not neglect his mandated duty. But he does not seem to mind what happens to the law of which is department is the primary implementor,” he said.

In the deliberations last week, Sen. Joker Arroyo reiterated that he wants to get an audit of P160-billion budget for land acquisition and distribution in the last 20 years since CARP’s implementation.

Pimentel said if Pangandaman could not do his part in expediting the passage of the measure, it could be that he is “busy playing golf.”

He added that the fate of the bill is uncertain because of the lobby from powerful landowners’ interests, inaction of agrarian reform authorities, and the problem of quorum in the House of Representatives.

He said Congress should pass the final version of the bill amending CARP before it adjourns sine die on June 5 so that it would be sent to President Arroyo for signing into law before the expiration of Joint Congressional Resolution 19, which extended the effectivity of CARP by six months.  

12 sessions left

Only 12 days of session are left before the mid-year adjournment, he said.

“In other words, the first week of June, we will already be adjourning. And therefore, obviously the need for a more speedy action on the part of the Senate would be crucial in order to prod the House of Representatives to do their thing,” the minority leader said.

Pimentel said the problem in getting the amendments to the CARP approved is not with the Senate where the bill is now in an advanced stage of deliberations.

In fact, he said Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Gregorio Honasan, sponsors of the bill, have committed to pass the bill possibly this week. 

He said on the part of the House, he learned that deliberations on the bill have suffered delay for lack of quorum, which stemmed, among others, from the absence of a group of congressmen led by Speaker Prospero Nograles who had to be quarantined for a number of days after arriving from the United States where they watched the Pacquiao-Hatton boxing match.