‘’We hope that these congressmen who met with the President on the extension would be publicized so that poor farmers would know whom to blame for the dire consequences of extending CARP,’’ said Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap in a statement released here yesterday.
He noted that the House is set to approve on final reading House Bill 4296 which extends the expired Republic Act 6657 or CARP before Congress goes into recess this June.
In its statement, Anakpawis branded the congressmen pushing for the extension of ‘’an already dead law’’ as “Frankensteins,” based on the monster character brought to life by a mad scientist in the novel of Mary Shelley.
Anakpawis insisted that the CARP law could not legally be extended since ‘’it no longer exists’’ after it expired in June last year.
‘’We are reminding these lawmakers that they will be held responsible for their acts and should not evade accountability should farmers condemn them for the ill effects of CARP extension,’’ said Hicap.
He said farmers are prepared to challenge before the Supreme Court the CARP extension law if it is passed.
Anakpawis has been pushing instead House Bill 252 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) since the 14th Congress but the House committee on agrarian reform has yet to seriously deliberate on it.
‘’We are not happy with the House committee on agrarian reform as the bills it tables are all connected with CARP, while our resolutions, including that which seeks to investigate the massive cancellations of agrarian reform awards to farmers, are being overlooked,’’ Hicap also said.
