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THERE’S
no reason to panic. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program (CARP) has a full year’s budget this year and
will continue even if it lapses Tuesday, June 10.
This was
the assurance of Malacañang Sunday to prospective
farmer-beneficiaries who had become restive after the
bill extending the land-reform law failed to be taken up
by Congress before it goes on a monthlong recess
Wednesday.
Chief
presidential counsel Sergio Apostol in a radio interview
said, “There will still be CARP even after it expires on
June 10. A budget has been provided for it till the end
of the year.”
What
will be suspended with the nonextension—or at least
until the CARP bill is extended—is the acquisition of
new properties, he explained, “but DAR [Department of
Agrarian Reform] will continue to operate.”
He said
the declaration of a special session to see through the
passage of the CARP extension bill is “being
considered,” but no final decision has been made,
indicating there is no hurry since there is still much
time until the end of the year.
Apostol
said that based on his experience as a congressman, once
Congress adjourns, lawmakers would go home to their
respective provinces, and it may become difficult to
gather enough people to reach a quorum.
In this
case, he said, pending bills that include the CARP
extension “can be taken up during the regular session.”
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