ON JUNE 30, the joint resolution extending the implementation of CARP expired.

The original law, the centerpiece of Cory Aquino’s administration, was passed in 1988 and was implemented for 10 years.  In 1998, another law was passed extending Carp implementation for another ten years.

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As Carp was about to expire in June 30, 2008, a joint resolution was passed extending its implementation up to December 31, 2008.  Another resolution extended Carp from January 1 to June 30, 2009 but the coverage was limited only to voluntary offer to sell and voluntary land transfer.  No compulsory acquisition of private agricultural land was allowed.

Since this joint resolution expired last June 30, what is the status of Carp now?

It can be recalled that PGMA, giving in to the lobby of the CBCP and farmers groups, certified the CARPer bills as urgent. In an amazing display of legislative dispatch, both houses of Congress passed the bills extending and strengthening CARP. The Senate passed Senate Bill 2666 on June 1 while the House of Representatives passed House Bill 4077 on June 3.

Senators Migz Zubiri and Noynoy Aquino abstained from the voting. Those who voted for SB 2666 were Nene Pimentel, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Gringo Honasan, Francis Pangilinan, Joker Arroyo, Pia Cayetano, Richard Gordon, Mar Roxas, Rodolfo Biazon and Manuel Lapid, Chiz Escudero.

The lower house voted overwhelmingly for CARPer at 211 in favor against 13 who are not in favor. Four Negrense solons - Thirdie Marañon (2nd District), Kako Lacson (3rd District), Jeffrey Ferrer (4th District) and Genaro Alvarez (6th District) – are among those who had the cojones to stand by their principles.

One week after both houses passed their respective versions of the CARPer, the bicameral committee met to reconcile and iron out the conflicting provisions in the two bills. The senate version was adopted as the working draft. The senate panel was composed of Honasan, Estrada, Pimentel, Biazon, Pia Cayetano and Pangilinan.

The lower house bicam representatives were Elias Bulut Jr. (Apayao), Salvador Escudero (Sorsogon), Edcel Lagman (Albay), Risa Hontiveros (Akbayan), Pablo Garcia (Cebu), Amado Bagatsing (Manila), Michael Duavit (Rizal), Pryde Henry Teves (Negros Oriental), Rodolfo Antonino (Nueva Ecija), and Amelita Villarosa (Occidental Mindoro).

It took the bicam committee twelve hours of marathon session to approve the final version on June 9. To date, no printed final bicam report has come out. Stakeholders are in the dark as to the final form of this CARPer animal.

Whatever this creature might look like is a concern best left for the future. The most important issue now is – what is the status of Carp?

The resolution extending Carp expired on June 30. Though both houses of congress passed their respective bills on CARPer, those bills do not have the effect of law. Though the bicameral committee has approved the final version of CARPer, the bicameral committee report by itself does not have the force of law.

The bicam report needs to be ratified by both houses of congress but both houses of congress will resume session on July 27 yet, when PGMA delivers her Sorry State of the Nation Address. In other words, the earliest that the bicam report can be ratified is on July 27 but mere ratification still does not make it into a law.

It has to be submitted for signature of the President. Granting that PGMA will immediately sign the CARPer, it still needs to be published in at least two newspapers of general circulation. CARPer will only take effect fifteen days after its publication.

If it is ratified on July 28, signed by the President before the end of the month and published on the first day of August, CARPer will presumably take effect on August 16. So what is the status of Carp in the interim that CARPer does not yet have the full effect of law?

If a landowner sells some of his CARPable land today, what will stop him from doing so? The law? What law? The old law has expired and the new law has yet to take effect!

What is there to violate in terms of the agrarian reform program when there is no law to speak of?

Ah! The days ahead will truly be very interesting times!

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