The Agrarian Question

WHAT CAN BE DONE FOR THE PASSAGE OF THE CARPER BILL?

· We should push Congress to perform its constitutional duty of enacting a law extending CARP with the necessary reforms especially those contained in House Bill 4077 and Senate Bill 266 at the soonest possible time.

· We must push Congress to revoke Join Rsolution No. 19 in order to give way to land acquisition and distribution through Compulsory Acquisition.

· We should resist and block anti-CARP bills like the Perfecting Amendment Bills proposed by Congressman Villafuerte

· We should continue our struggle of relentlessly upholding the rights of the farmers and farmworkers in order to promote the principles of justice and equity enshrined in our Constitution

· Strengthen our collective resolve and commitment and work to expand agrarian reform constituents to support the nationwide call to extend and reform CARP

Extending CARP with Reforms

The CARP as a development framework is supposed to pave the way for the country’s aspirations for sustainable economic development and industrialization by infusing fresh capital, infrastructure and lasting peace into agricultural areas. CARP seeks to correct centuries of social injustices and at the same time usher in genuine economic development by diffusing wealth and opportunity to many. The relationship between agricultural and countryside development as brought about by efficient agrarian reform and the modernization and industrialization of a nation cannot be gainsaid and has been proven many times over by the experiences of many countries.

Success stories on proper CARP implementation are numerous. Studies show that the Program, in many parts of the country, has improved the lives of farmers and their households; freed millions from hunger and destitution; brought peace to the countryside; sent more children to schools; developed and modernized agricultural lands; built and paved more roads, warehouses and post harvest facilities; provided credit and technical assistance to the rural areas. If completed, CARP will be able to lift from poverty and hunger an additional 1.7 million Filipinos, mostly from the rural areas, and facilitate the increase of the middle class. With an enlarged middle class, businesses will grow, politics will become more modern and the economy will be in better shape for all Filipinos in the 21st century.

Twenty years after it was first enacted into law, the Program once again is facing an impending end to its funding allocation in the national budget in 2008, despite the fact that CARP is far from complete. According to the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), 1.3 Million hectares of the most productive private agricultural lands still have not been covered by the program as of 2006. The roots of the problem can be traced to the government’s failure to put the required institutional, fiscal and infrastructural support; compounded by DAR’s inefficiency and corruption.

A need to accelerate the implementation of the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) component of the CARP and complete once and for all this most urgent part of the Program will usher the country into agro-industrialization and modernization similar to the development path taken by many of our neighbor countries - Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Moreover, the lessons in the two decades worth of CARP implementation compel the adoption of measures to address the loopholes of the law on agrarian reform. Among the necessary reforms are strengthening the credit and support service delivery, making indefeasible the titles on the land awarded to agrarian reform beneficiaries, ensuring the actual, physical distribution and possession of lands and reorganizing the DAR bureaucracy for better performance and more farmer participation.