The Kilusang Magbubkid ng Pilipinas said that after what it calls the sham Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program expired in June last year, Congress should now tackle a new land reform bill and that House Bill 4296 is a mere extension bill and must be thrown into the legislative thrash bin.

KMP chair Rafael Mariano said in a press release that HB 4296 is now a mere scrap of paper since the law it seeks to extend is now a dead horse. A mere extension bill cannot extend a law that doesn’t exist. It should be deleted from Congress’ Order of Business and be sent to the legislative archives. Besides, there is a new agrarian reform bill that will truly address and break land monopoly, he said. “Congress should start the ball rolling on House Bill 252, or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill,”  he added.

He said that the so-called clamor and moves to resurrect the dead CARP led by Aquino’s allies only serve the interest of the politically isolated landlord in Malacanang.

He assailed Aquino’s spin-doctors for what he called the “malicious” reports that militant lawmakers have become unlikely allies of landlords in Congress due to their opposition to HB 4296.

Aquino’s apologists and political deodorizers cannot hide the truth that landlords in Congress crafted and voted to enact the CARP in 1988. Landlords in Congress unanimously voted to extend the CARP twice, ten years in 1998 and another five years in 2009, Mariano said.

 He also said it is Aquino and the proponents of CARP who are exploiting and using poor farmers as pawns for their self interests and political survival,” Mariano said.*

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