MANILA, May 18, 2009—Roman Catholic bishops are deeply disappointed with how the Congress is dealing on a bill seeking to extend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

In a pastoral statement issued Monday, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) cried foul over some lawmaker’s disregard of the country’s farmers.

The bishops mainly lamented the kowtowing to the agenda of landed interests by adopting “killer amendments” that will water down the bill by exempting huge tracts of agricultural lands.

With only few days left before the mid-year adjournment of sessions at the lower House, the church leaders can’t help but express dismay at how things are going on.

“Thus, it is with great sorrow and foreboding that we, the CBCP, witness some legislators willfully neglecting a vital sector that contributes to the country’s economic growth,” they said.

The new pastoral statement, signed by CBCP president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, was entitled “Agrarian Reform is an instrument of social justice and an act of political wisdom”.

‘Perfecting’ amendments

The bishops said the amendments will “effectively emasculate” the objectives and gains of CARP with extension and reform bill for the poor farmers.

These provisions, they said, are called “perfecting” amendments by their proponents, not just in Congress but also at the Senate, which in reality would dilute the program.

“…we find the proposals below to be unacceptable and antithetical to laws that govern the moral and social structures of our society,” the statement read.

The CBCP said some of the amendments that should be blocked were those allowing land included in agrarian reform to be used as collateral for loans, and exemptions to include sugar land and coconut farms.

Conscience

The CBCP urged the legislators to make a “serious examination of conscience” and work on solving the “mounting forms of injustice and violation of fundamental rights the rural poor.”

“The small farmers deserve our attention and espousal of their cause. They continue bringing hope to society, and nurture life from season to season.”

“No man of upright conscience much more that of a principled leader, can allow the Filipino farmer to be laid bare and vulnerable to the claws of globalization and continuous hopelessness,” the bishops said. (Roy Lagarde)