MANILA, Philippines -- The Senate will pass the bill extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, which expires in June, in the next two weeks, Senator Aquilino Pimentel said Saturday.

Speaking at the Kapihan sa Sulo forum, Pimentel said that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has told him that he wanted the measure passed this coming week. But Sen. Gregorio Honasan, who chairs the agrarian reform committee, said that might not be feasible because some amendments to the bill were to be made.

But Honasan also assured him the bill could be passed the week after next, Pimentel added.

The bill, aside from extending the program for five years, will also restore the compulsory acquisition of land, a provision struck down by a joint resolution of Congress approved in December which extended CARP for six months until June to give Congress more time to enact the necessary legislation, which they had failed to do earlier.

Pimentel said what concerned him more was when he House will pass its own version of the bill.