Monday, March 10, 2008 Lawmaker hits poor handling of CARP hearing
REPRESENTATIVE Jeffrey Ferrer of the 4th District, Negros Occidental, said Sunday that the congressional public hearing on the proposed bill seeking the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program beyond June 2008 held Friday in Dumaguete City was poorly disseminated, adding that Bacolod could have been an ideal venue for this legislative exercise.
Ferrer, a member of the House Committee on Land Reform, said he suggested Bacolod as a venue when he was informed of the public hearing but his suggestion was not considered.
Bacolod is also a good venue to hold the congressional hearing on CARP where pro and anti-CARP can ventilate their positions on whether CARP deserves to be extended or not, he said.
The congressman also said whether CARP is extended or not, his main concern is for agrarian reform beneficiaries to be given the support services needed to help them make their lands productive.
Cebu Representative Pablo Garcia, who attended the Dumaguete hearing, claimed that CARP failed to improve lives of the farmers, saying that there were loopholes in its implementation, which contributed much to its failure.
He said that CARP has made farmers more impoverished instead of uplifting their economic conditions.
The public hearing chaired by Representative Edgar Valdez, committee vice chairman, drew thousands of farmers, landowners and other stakeholders who presented their respective positions regarding the pending bill seeking for CARP extension.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in Negros Island pushed for the scrapping of the program, claiming that many farmers still have no lands to till despite two decades of implementation.
Its affiliate group, District Farmers Alliance, instead called on a "genuine agrarian reform for the farmers.
Several landowners, on the other hand, stressed that in case the program is extended, the government should put a halt on the distribution of land and instead support services for agrarian reform communities be aggressively pursued.
Meanwhile, some agrarian reform beneficiaries and landowners complained that the Department of Agrarian Reform failed to properly disseminate the public hearing.
The militant group Kapunungan Alang sa Ugma sa Gagaymg Mag-uuma sa Oriental Negros (KAUGMAON) said that they were not informed by the DAR provincial office in Dumaguete and that they knew it only from their allied groups in Cebu City.
At the same time, former Rep. Herminio "Meniong" Teves also claimed that he got the letter of invitation only a day before the public hearing.
