Tuesday, December 23, 2008 Mikey denies 'hand' in Carp extension
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Amid reports he led the move in the House of Representatives in extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp), Pampanga second district Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo on Monday denied having a "hand" on the multi-party straw vote called by Speaker Prospero Nograles five months ago.
Representative Satur Ocampo of the Bayan Muna party-list group has accused Arroyo of leading those who voted for the Carp extension, which opposition lawmakers said would deter a new comprehensive agrarian reform law less favorable to "landlord lobbyists."
Ocampo said Arroyo, together with his brother Representative Diosdado Arroyo of Camarines Sur and his uncle Representative Ignacio Arroyo of Negros Occidental, all voted for the extension.
According to militant party-list groups, "that is worse than having the Carp expire to allow for drafting a new agrarian reform law."
But the eldest son of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo denied in an interview he had led the opposition to Carp in that straw vote. He said that other lawmakers were more vocal in their rejection of the program.
The Pampanga lawmaker said it was unfair for Ocampo to blame him for the Carp issue or other congressional concerns because it is the majority's decision that is ultimately respected.
"They always blame me and my family for such issues. It is unfair. I voted to extend Carp with the disputed amendments because I would to save it than let it die just like that," Mikey Arroyo said.
"And how could I vote against land reform when this is the legacy of my grandfather Diosdado Macapagal who was once a president of this country?" he added.
According to him, Ocampo and his colleagues should respect the decision of the majority since this is a democratic country, not a dictatorship. "Doing so," he said, "would prevent chaos as the ideals of democracy are upheld."
But Mikey Arroyo refused to comment on the six-month Carp extension without compulsory land acquisition.
He said the author of the Carp bill did not want any amendment to it despite the majority's observation that there were flaws needed to be addressed.
The Senate voted 14-0 with two abstentions, and the House, 111-34 with one abstention for the program's extension for another six months, but with only the voluntary offer to sell and voluntary transfer of ownership.
