Solon laments hold-up of Carp bills in Congress

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat Photo from congress.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines — The chairman of the House of Representatives agrarian reform committee lamented the hold-up on the two bills extending and reforming the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) due to resistance by landlord solons.

In an ambush interview on Monday, Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, however, said he remains confident the bills have the numbers to be passed in the plenary.

“Kung malaki ang resistance galing sa landlords, malaki din naman suporta galing sa ibang kongresista (If there’s big resistance from the landlords, there’s an equally big support from the other congressmen)… Let’s show the leadership that we also have support,” Baguilat said.

Baguilat also lauded 81 bishops from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for their appeal to the President to ensure the passage of House Bill No. 4296 and House Bill No. 4375.

HB 4296 seeks to renew the authority of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to issue notices of coverage and provide adequate funding for support services to agricultural landholdings not yet placed under Carp.

HB 4375, meanwhile, seeks to establish an independent Agrarian Reform Commission that would review the CARP’s accomplishments and investigate violations of the agrarian reform law.

“There are those among us who are genuinely for land reform and it was certified by the President as urgent. Now we have the bishops behind this,” Baguilat said.

The representative expressed his woes for the delay in the scheduling for plenary debate of HB 4296 by the Rules committee chaired by Majority leader Neptali Gonzales II.

Last week, a group of farmers from Negros threw snails in the rules committee and hit Gonzales for the snail-paced progress of the Carper bill in the chamber.

Gonzales said he does not want to blame Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. for the delay because the Speaker is aware that the President certified the bill as urgent.

He said Gonzales has told him the bill has yet to be calendared due to stiff opposition from landlord representatives.

“I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s the Speaker. The problem really is, can one person really hostage the bill just because mayroong tumututol?” Baguilat said.

“When we ask Cong Gonzales, he says it’s not a priority and there’s a lot of opposition to the bill. Kaya nga natin ilalagay sa floor eh,” he added.

The Carp is known as the landmark agrarian reform legislation under the Corazon Aquino administration, and its implementation was extended in 2009 for another five years under the law Carp extension with reforms, or Carper.