House Speaker Prospero Nograles yesterday called for the consolidation of all amendments in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law before it expires in December this year.

Nograles said in a press statement that he is concerned that proposals are coming only in trickles, and yet they have only three months left to finalize the substantive amendments to extend the law.

“We don't want to end up cramming and rushing again just to be beat the December deadline,” he said.

Nograles said he wants a CARP extension law that is acceptable to everyone before December 31.

Last month, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte filed a new bill seeking the CARP extension  for another five years with funding of P100 billion.

The bill also raises the compensation for land acquired from landowners, allows the use of CARP lands as collateral for loans from banks, and is more specific about the land reform beneficiaries to be covered, the press release said.

Nograles said the Department of Agrarian Reform needs a budget for the extension of the program, but if the Congress cannot pass the extension law, they will provide appropriations for a program that will cease to exist on December 31.

But Nograles said the country needs the CARP to achieve its  food productivity thrust, and he assured the farmers and stakeholders in agrarian reform that Congress will  find time to tackle this important piece of legislation.

He also said that the CARP extension law should not just be about distributing lands but it should also assure beneficiaries government support to make their lands productive, the press release said.

Negros Occidental has the largest area of undistributed private agricultural landholdings at more than 100,000 hectares.

The Negros CARP Reform Movement had earlier said that nationwide, at least half a million farmers, they said would benefit from the distribution of the remaining CARP backlog of 1.3 million hectares, mostly private agricultural lands above 60 hectares.

In the last 20 years, some six million hectares of private and public agricultural lands were distributed to 3.2 million farmer-beneficiaries, increased productivity and income in agrarian areas, and laid the ground for long-term rural economic growth, according to Task Force Mapalad.*NLG

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