Below is the [DRAFT] Explanation of Vote of Kabataan Party-list Rep. Mong Palatino against HB 1257 An Act Accelerating the Completion of the Land Acquisition and Distribution Component of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), By Providing Automatic Appropriation Thereof, and Addressing Major Implementation Problems of the Program, Amending for the Purpose Republic Act No. 6657, As Amended, Otherwise Known as “The CARP Law of 1988″ and Executive Order 129, As Amended:
I vote “NO” to HB 1257, I vote “NO” to extending the present Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
I vote NO because CARP extension would only create more opportunities for land owners and agribusiness firms to further consolidate their control over agricultural lands.
HB 1257 specifically provides for a “farmland as collateral,” an essential element of market-oriented land reform. Farmers who would avail of this provision may just find their lands foreclosed, thus resulting in the return of already-redistributed agricultural lands to the ownership of landlords and big agribusinesses.
I vote NO HB CARP extension because the present CARP has failed to stop bankrupt farmers from selling or transferring distributed lands despite so-called prohibitions on such transfers.
CARP failed to fulfill the constitutional mandate on agrarian reform program, as clarified by the Supreme Court by stating that “through the agrarian reform, the farmer at last will be released not only from want but also from the exploitation and disdain of the past and from feelings of inadequacy and helplessness; the farm will be his/her portion of Mother Earth that will give not only the staff of life but also the joy of living”.
law student, national democracy activist, film school graduate, photography hobbyist