The Negros CARP Reform Movement, an alliance of major coalitions of people’s organizations, non-governmental organizations and individual advocates in the island, have reiterated their call for the extension of the land reform program as they debunked the survey results released by the Negros Occidental provincial government showing that 97 percent of beneficiaries in the province have not received government support.

This survey was biased for they did not show their processes and survey documents, the group said in a position paper.

NCRM said they have  showcases that will prove there is economic improvement in the lives of  agrarian reform beneficiaries. These include those in Haciendas Nolan, Isabel, Velez-Malaga, Nelia, Carmenchika, Cambuktot, and Dama.

These are just a few showcases that would tell the success of agrarian reform program, the group said, adding that collective ownership and management of the land is a key factor.

The NCRM said they will drumbeat their call  for  the  extension  of  the  implementation of  Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program  at the Regional Consultation for the Second National Rural Congress called by the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines today at the Santuario de La Salle in USLS, Bacolod City.

Among their proposed amendatory   reforms to the provisions of the agrarian reform law are: 

The full implementation of  land acquisition and distribution by 2015 after a  seven-year extension;

Automatic appropriation of 3.8 percent of the annual national budget for CARP – 70 percent allocation for LAD and 30 percent for support services until LAD is completed, and   upon completion of LAD,  100 percent must be allocated to Support Services and Development and  Agrarian Justice Delivery;

Ten percent of the annual gross income of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office should be added in the list of AR Fund source;      

Increase to 30 percent, from 25 percent, of the allocation for Program Beneficiaries Development out of the total CARP appropriations; creation of an Oversight Committee; and provision for the conduct of  CARP Accomplishments Validation.

The NCRM is composed of the Comprehensive ARB Initiative for Negros Empowerment, Agrarian Reform Advocates, Task Force Mapalad- Negros Island, Sugar Workers Alliance In Negros, Negros Unity Forum on Agrarian Reform, Asosasyon sang Mangunguma sa Industriya sang Kalamay sa Negros, Provincial Alliance of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries and Advocates of Negros, AKBAYAN-Negros, North Negros Federation of Agrarian Cooperatives, Federation of Peasant Communities in NESCA, Negros Oriental Center for Peoples Empowerment and Development, and Negros Farmers Council.*

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