Party-list nominee pushes for re-extension of Carp law

THE nominee and convenor of the Alliance for Rural Concerns (ARC) party-list pushed for re-extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp), saying the country is still facing various problems in agriculture.

Alan Paje said the re-extension should be done before the law end in 2014.

He said the ARC party-list does not only focus on agrarian reform, as they also consider the upland dwellers and the sector served by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“ARC is basically intended for rural communities and agrarian reform before, but we now also attended to the problems of upland dwellers, the sector served by the DENR, as well as the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), who take cares of watershed areas in Mindanao, respectively,” he said.

Paje added that the ARC, which gets two congressional positions in the 2007 elections, has already submitted its intent to participate in the 2013 midterm polls.

“We wanted to assure that if we would be given the chance to serve the country, problems faced by the farmers group and upland dwellers would be attended,” he said.

“The National Government should always be prepared on the different problems that would be encountered by the farmer group. We know that many problems regarding agriculture existed in almost all parts of the country, particularly in Mindanao,” Paje added.

The convenor, however, said that there are other party-list groups attending farmer concerns.

“We would not only focus on helping farmers in land acquisition. We also would help the beneficiaries on how they could improve the land that they receive,” he said.

He also said that their office conducts information education campaign on the role that farmers play especially on the struggle of agrarian reform. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)