By Roy Pelovello

THE House of Representatives and the Senate have agreed to restore the land acquisition and distribution component in the proposed extension of the agrarian reform law.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, a member of the House panel that met with its Senate counterpart yesterday, said both chambers have arrived at a consensus to approve the agrarian reform bill with its LAD provision before Congress goes on a recess in June.

“There is a clear and firm consensus among the conferees to restore the compulsory acquisition of private agricultural lands as a component of the extended agrarian program,” Lagman said.

House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor represented Speaker Prospero Nograles in the meeting with the senators. The House panel included Deputy Speaker for Visayas Pablo Garcia, Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte and Apayao Rep. Elias Bulut.

Lagman said the proposed agrarian program will give priority for compulsory acquisition to landholdings at least 50 hectares. It will have enough safeguards against parceling of lands to avoid coverage.

“The determination of just compensation will be revisited to check on the contentious issue on valuation which delays the completion of payment to landowners,” Lagman said.

Lagman noted that since the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program extension took effect in January under Senate Joint Resolution 19 which did not include compulsory acquisition, no landowner has applied or petitioned for Voluntary Offer to Sell and Voluntary Land Transfer. This is proof that any agrarian reform program will fail without the provision for compulsory acquisition, according to Lagman.

“This validates the apprehension that the remaining landowners resisting coverage will not avail themselves of VOS and VLT, and therefore the need for compulsory acquisition as the major, if not the only mode, of acquiring and distributing private agricultural lands,” Lagman said.

In a separate statement, Hontiveros confirmed Lagman’s announcement.

“The main agreement is to restore compulsory acquisition, an affirmation of what we have been saying all along—without compulsory acquisition, CARP would be ineffectual,” Hontiveros said. “No landlord would voluntary give up his lands. The government has to use its constitutional mandate to deliver social justice programs like agrarian reform.”

Hontiveros said this development should be taken with guarded optimism. “After the disheartening approval of the Joint Resolution 19, which has taken away the heart of agrarian reform, this renewed commitment to bring back compulsory acquisition is very much welcome.”

But Hontiveros said she expected landlords in Congress to push for “killer amendments” during the deliberations on the proposed five-year extension of the agrarian reform program.

“We will not be complacent. Even though majority of the members of the special panel on CARP agreed that LAD should be restored, there were others in the committee who insisted on its removal and on the introduction of other killer amendments,” Hontiveros said.

Among the killer amendments that Hontiveros sought to be blocked are proposals to allow CARP lands as collateral for loans and additional exemptions to include sugarlands and coconut farms.