By Fel V. Maragay

Congress did the right thing when it suspended the compulsory acquisition of lands under a joint congressional resolution that extended the agrarian reform program for six months, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday.

President Arroyo can veto Joint Resolution 19 if she thinks that it does not conform to her idea of this social legislation, Enrile said.

?We cannot go along with the mandatory acquisition of lands. It?s okay if it is voluntary. But if the owners will be compelled to give up their lands but the government could not pay them, that would be unfair,? he said.

Enrile, however, said that if the President would refuse to sign the resolution, it is alright with the Senate, since it will automatically lapse into law 30 days after its transmittal to Malaca?ang.

?Maybe the President had expected that we should have enacted a law or expected CARP for a longer period.?

Malaca?ang said the President would not sign the joint resolution and wanted Congress to come up with a better agrarian reform law.

Mrs. Arroyo has in fact certified as urgent a bill to replace the agrarian reform program, Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said on radio.

The joint resolution is a stop-gap measure intended to give the lawmakers, farmers and landowners enough time to come up with a better program, said Gabriel Claudio, presidential adviser on political affairs.

Under the resolution, a copy of which was transmitted to Malaca?ang on Dec. 23, only those lands whose owners voluntarily offered to sell, will be distributed to famers within the six-month extension.

The Senate had originally planned to amend the agrarian law before it expired last Dec. 31. The committee on agrarian reform, chaired by Senator Gregorio Honasan, had endorsed a bill extending the program by five years more and allocating P150 billion for the purpose.

Enrile said the senators were dissatisfied with the agrarian reform program over the last 20 years. He said they did not go ahead with the plan to amend the law because of the failure of the Department of Agrarian Reform to supply them the necessary data.

Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman had reportedly recommended to the President a veto of Resolution 19 for allegedly not following the features of the bill she had certified for approval.

Enrile doubted if there is an improvement in the life of farmers and their families who were granted lands under Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or in the productivity of the lands that were parceled out to them.

?Are they now living comfortably or are they still poor? I dare the critics to lecture us on the results of land reform. I have been in government for 42 years but must confess, I still do not know the results of land reform,? he said on radio station dwIZ. With Joyce Pangco Pa?ares and Roy Pelovello