Centro Saka Inc. (Philippine Center for Rural Development Studies) today challenged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to go beyond rhetoric and implement measures that would truly alleviate poverty in the countryside. This was in response to President Arroyo's statement that she would seek a five-year extension for CARP.

"Simply extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is not enough," Centro Saka Land Tenure Center Coordinator Carmina Flores-Obanil said.  Providing additional funding support for CARP (like RA 8532 which extended the deadline of CARP from 1998 to 2008), would be useless if the government has no political will to implement the program and ensure it is given high budgetary priority.

"The small landless farmers and tenants have no recourse but to support the extension being peddled by Malacañang though it could mean another five years of waiting. Had the Arroyo government been serious in implementing and allocating sufficient budget for the program, an extension would be unnecessary."

Ms. Flores-Obanil pointed out that the Arroyo government had the poorest record in agrarian reform implementation compared to previous administrations. Records show that the Aquino administration's annual land distribution average was 135,240 hectares. Under the Ramos and Estrada presidencies, the average annual distribution reached 314,895 has. and 133,533 has. respectively. The Arroyo government, meantime, posted a measly annual average of 103,553 has. Data from the agrarian reform department also reveal that the current administration has failed to meet its distribution targets for the past several years.

She also explained that President Arroyo must pursue a reform agenda for the poor and rescind policies that have adverse effects on agrarian reform. One example would be the formation of Task Force Sugarlandia, which has been promoting the expansion of the ethanol industry at the expense of agrarian reform in sugar areas. 

Ms. Flores-Obanil stressed the need for the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to produce realistic estimates of the budgetary needs for CARP. "Why is DAR only asking for PhP100 billion for CARP when their own projections state that at least PhP120 billion more is needed to distribute the remaining balance of 600,000 has. until 2008?" She noted that the budgetary estimates do not include the costs of covering the 1.377 million has. (preliminary results as of April 2006) of agricultural lands that were discovered by DAR through their Internal CARP Scope validation. These parcels of land were not included in the distribution targets of CARP. 

She also questioned why DAR is using the 600,000 has. remaining balance as the basis for projecting the budgetary needs for CARP, when DAR's own data show that the balance for distribution is actually 1.35 million has. "There is a need for a comprehensive validation not only of the remaining balance of DAR but also of the veracity of the reported accomplishment of DAR. Even the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) Audit has seen glaring discrepancies in the reported accomplishments."