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DAR lauds CBCP for Carp extension support

04/20/2008

Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman has acknowleged the Church’s latest move, prodding the Congress to extend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp), saying it seldom makes an appeal but once it does it is something that is too hard to resist.

“The government normally regards the church and its word in high esteem. I’m sure our lawmakers would give its appeal a deep thought,” he said.

He cited as an example the Church’s role in the resolution of the controversial land dispute over the 144-hectare farmland in Sumilao, Bukidnon, which had become a national concern.

Pangandaman said more than a million more landless farmers would benefit should the Congress respond positively to the church’s appeal as there are some 1.3 million hectares of farmlands that are still up for distribution nationwide.

So far, some 3.7 million hectares of agricultural lands have already been distributed to more than three million farmer-beneficiaries since 1988 when the CARP was launched with the signing into law of Republic Act 6657.

Besides distributing farmlands, Pangandaman said he is also giving more premium on the delivery of support services, which include establishing credit facilities for cash-strapped farmers. Construction of farm-to-market roads, bridges, irrigation facilities and warehouses, among others, is also high on his list to help farmers produce more and increase their income.

Late last week, Manila and Cebu Archbishops Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and 27 other bishops pressed the House of Representatives to extend anew the Carp, which is set to expire in June this year.

“We are writing to manifest our appeal to the honorable members of the Congress, the urgency of passing a bill to extend the CARP and institute progressive reforms that would truly benefit our poor farmers who remain landless,” the prelates said in a letter dated April 1 and addressed to Apayao Rep. Elias Bulut, chairman of the House committee on agrarian reform.