The die is cast.

By forsaking agrarian reform and social justice, Congress has exposed itself as the weakest democratic institution. Even worse, the legislators killed the social justice program at a time when the world is calling for the recognition of the rights of the landless rural poor. What they have done is also callous because agrarian reform is the country's only remaining social reform program that also helps protect the weak from the lingering effects of the ongoing global financial crisis.

House Speaker Prospero Nograles is to blame for the failure of Congress to enact House Bill (HB) No. 4077 or the CARP extension with reforms bill. Nograles failed to steer his colleagues towards the speedy enactment of a priority bill. He even misled the farmers and the bishops into believing that the bill would be passed by the end of 2008. At the end of the day, he shamefully accommodated the landlord-solons' position to extend the program for merely six months and to remove the Compulsory Acquisition  mode of land distribution. It is an aberration to see him continue his term as House Speaker.

Holding the Arroyos accountable is an understatement. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appeared to support CARP extension when she certified the bill as urgent. But the vote of "no" by her sons Cong. Mikey and Diosdado "Datu" Arroyo during a straw voting held in June 10, 2008 indicates that the Arroyo's are against agrarian reform. This is ironic as agrarian reform is supposedly a legacy of no less than President Arroyo's father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal.

The sordid congressional deliberations on the CARP extension bill last December 17, 2008 showed just how irrelevant Congress is when it comes to policy concerns affecting the rural poor. We were expecting this Congress to institute reforms given the clamor for change and reforms in the last two EDSA uprisings.

Interestingly, the first joint resolution passed in June 10, 2008 mandates both the Senate and the House to draft a definitive bill on the continuation of the Land Acquisition and Distribution component of CARP. This bill should have been adopted on or before December 31, 2008. Yet Congress removed compulsory acquisition as a mode of land distribution rendering CARP implementation useless. This mode of distribution is the heart and soul of agrarian reform.

The Senate was expected to take a more amenable stance compared to the House of Representatives. After all, the consolidated senate bill--(SB) No. 2666--called for the completion of land acquisition and distribution and other significant reform measures. We thought the Senators were a cut above the congressional representatives and would champion the cause of the poor farmers. But by relinquishing its obligation to pursue agrarian reform with meaningful reforms, the Senate has conspired with the House of Representatives in betraying the public trust.

Since land distribution has been effectively put on hold in the coming six months, CARP has not been extended. Support services delivery remains to be implemented. But that aspect does not require CARP extension.

The CARP extension bills--HB 4077 and SB 2666--are now in limbo. The legislators have practically ignored the results of the regional consultations which showed overwhelming support by the farmers for CARP extension with reforms. They have turned a deaf ear to the appeal of the bishops and other agrarian reform advocates for the passage of the CARP extension with reforms bills. They have also unceremoniously dismissed the recommendations made by a number of agrarian reform experts that compulsory acquisition is the best way to address social inequities in the countryside.

Despite the blatant conspiracy committed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, the landless farmers and farm workers remain undaunted in their campaign to claim their lands. With the demise of the agrarian reform program, the farmers may have no recourse but resort to extralegal means to assert their rights over the lands they till.

EUGENE TECSON
Land Tenure Center
Centro Saka, Inc.
Rm. 321 PSSC Building
Commonwealth Avenue,
Diliman, Quezon City

For inquiries, pls. call Mr. Eugene Tecson at 9287464 or 9266607