Senate honors 3 Filipina climbers for Everest feat

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Inquirer
Last updated 07:32am (Mla time) 06/08/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate has commended the three Filipinas who made it to the summit of Mount Everest and became the first women to traverse the world’s highest mountain from the north side (Tibet) to the south side (Nepal).

 

The chamber awarded a resolution to Noelle Wenceslao, Carina Dayondon, Janet Belarmino and the Kaya ng Pinay Everest Team as a commendation to their courage and determination exemplified in their successful climb on May 16.

 

Senate President Manuel Villar said, “We celebrate and take pride in the audacity of our women who have conquered Mount Everest, marking another milestone in our accomplishments as a country.”

 

“Their feat clearly demonstrates the outstanding skill and strength of our Filipino women in the face of the fiercest adversities as they reach their goal. It upholds the importance of women empowerment in our country, further elevating the distinct qualities of our women,” Villar said.

 

Villar authored Senate Resolution No. 629 giving recognition to the women climbers and their team.

Senate proposes PCGG revamp for Philcomsat ‘mismanagement’

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 07:09pm (Mla time) 06/07/2007

MANILA, Philippines — On the last plenary day of the 13th Congress, the Senate on Thursday proposed the overhaul of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) after finding PCGG nominees to a couple of sequestered companies guilty of “overwhelming mismanagement.”

 

“The PCGG…failed miserably in its mandate to preserve and protect the interest of the national government” in three companies in which the government has interests, said Committee Report 312, which the Senate adopted Thursday.

 

Senator Richard Gordon, who heads the Senate committees on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises and on Public Services that submitted the report, said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should also look into the eventual abolition of the PCGG.

 

But he acknowledged that the 11 hearings on the three companies are not enough to make the conclusion that PCGG must be abolished. “Investigations into more sequestered companies may have to be made to make that conclusion,” he said.

 

Gordon said the proposed PCGG overhaul may be made together with the reported impending Cabinet revamp.

 

The report also proposed that the Ombudsman further investigate the actions of PCGG officials, government nominees to Philippine Overseas Telecommunications Corp. (POTC) and Philippine Communications Satellite Corp. (Philcomsat), and private individuals in Philcomsat Holdings Corp. (PHC) for culpability.

 

The report also recommended the following:

 

* Remove the jurisdiction of the national government shares in POTC and Philcomsat from the PCGG and transfer them to the Privatization Management Office under the Department of Finance.

 

“As the Supreme Court already decided that the 35 percent of shares in these companies belong to the government, representation over such interest should no longer be under the PCGG…There is no longer a question of ownership over these shares,” it said.

 

* Replace government nominees as directors to POTC and Philcomsat as the former are “clearly ineffective in protecting the interest of the national government in these corporations.”

 

“[The replacements] should be made to submit regular reports to the agencies they represent concerning the corporations to which they have been appointed,” it said.

 

* Privatize the national government share in POTC and Philcomsat.

 

* Have the Anti-Money Laundering Council investigate the suspicious bank accounts exposed in the Senate hearings including the so-called Munsayac account for which PCGG officials and nominees cannot explain.

 

* Have the Sandiganbayan and the Supreme Court investigate the instances where the two institutions were supposed to have received money from PHC.

 

* Have the Bureau of Internal Revenue look into the alleged representation allowance in relation to “BIR transactions” amounting to P2.952 million.

 

* Have the Senate continue investigating the other PCGG sequestered companies as part of its oversight function.

 

“The PCGG has been in existence for over 20 years, the committee takes the position that it is time for the PCGG to be put to task and to be required to render a detailed accounting to the people concerning its accomplishments,” it said.

Buhay party-list urged to settle ‘nominees’ row

By Jerome Aning
Inquirer
Last updated 07:13am (Mla time) 06/08/2007

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections on Thursday urged Buhay Hayaang Yumabong (Buhay), which is currently at the top of the official count of party-list votes, to resolve internal differences itself and not wait for the poll body to decide which of the group’s two different sets of nominees is entitled to sit in the House of Representatives.

 

“It should be an internal matter. It’s the party-list organization that solves that,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez told reporters in a briefing.

 

Although Comelec has been asked by each of the feuding Buhay factions to deny due course to the other side’s certificates of nomination, Jimenez said Comelec was reluctant to step into the feud.

 

Buhay, identified with the influential Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai founded by evangelist Bro. Mike Velarde, is poised to win three seats in the House in accordance with the Constitution, once it is formalized that it topped the votes.

 

The group, however, had presented two slates of nominees to Comelec. One is led by Hans Christian Señeres, the party’s acting president and secretary-general. The other was submitted by his predecessor Melquiades Robles, its slate led by Velarde’s son, Rene.

 

The Señeres list also included Hermenigildo Dumlao, Antonio Bautista, Victor Pablo Trinidad and Eduardo Solangon Jr.

 

Aside from Rene Velarde, Robles’ nominees are Ma. Carissa Coscolluela, William Irwin Tieng, Melchor Monsod and Teresita Villarama.

 

Señeres said Robles could no longer participate in the group’s affairs because the latter was appointed administrator of the Light Rail Transit Corp. He added that since government officials might not join political parties, Robles’ term as president had also expired.

 

Robles contended that he could not be forced out of Buhay because he still had the right to join an association even if he were a government official.

 

Señeres, however, argued that as secretary-general and acting president, he had the sole authority to submit the nominations.

 

Jimenez said Buhay members should resolve the feud quickly so that Buhay nominees could take their seats in Congress by June 30 and participate in the election of the House speaker.

 

“It’s all up to them, really. If they won’t settle this among themselves, then their congressional seats will remain unoccupied until the dispute is settled,” the spokesperson added.

14 achievers in public service honored

By Michelle Remo
Inquirer
Last updated 06:38am (Mla time) 06/06/2007

MANILA, Philippines — For the seven recognized achievers in public service, the joy they derive from being government employees is something that a high-paying corporate job cannot top.

 

Seeing how her fellow Filipinos benefit from her work was fulfillment enough so that she has never entertained the thought of leaving her job for greener pastures abroad, said Reinalda C. Raffinan, who works as an operations officer at the Department of the Interior and Local Governments (DILG).

 

Raffinan is one of the seven recipients of the “Achievers in Public Service Award” given out by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) during its 70th anniversary celebration last Friday.

 

Aside from recognizing outstanding government employees, the pension fund for state employees also cited seven outstanding government agencies during the celebration.

 

The government agencies cited as Achievers in Public Service Award were: the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the National Statistics Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the provincial government of Bulacan, the Jose Fabella Memorial School, the local government of Davao City, and the Mahalo Elementary School in Anahawan, Southern Leyte.

 

Raffinan spearheaded the operations of Patrol 117, the emergency hotline similar to the United States’ 911 hotline. Patrol 117 is credited for helping prevent crime and for making emergency assistance more accessible.

 

Med tech

 

Not only was Raffinan instrumental in the implementation of the project, she also helped in training people on the operations of the Patrol 117 call centers.

 

“I actually finished medical technology, and I could have worked abroad if I wanted to. But I opted to stay in government because of the fulfillment I get from my job,” Raffinan said in Filipino.

 

Other extraordinary achievements that helped Raffinan get the award include the implementation of the “Barangay Tanod Professionalization Program” and the “Child-Friendly Local Governance Program,” among many others.

 

Pedro M. del Rosario is another awardee for whom the non-monetary rewards of his job is enough.

 

P35M saving

 

Del Rosario, who started out as a utility worker and now serves as an administrative aide at the Baguio City General Hospital, has a knack for repairing malfunctioning hospital equipment.

 

Although doing repairs was not really part of a job that involves only housekeeping, Del Rosario has been credited with helping the hospital save as much as P35 million for fixing vital equipment that would have otherwise needed replacing.

 

“[Del Rosario’s] accomplishment contributed to the national interest of the government because it supports the austerity measure without sacrificing the quality of service being given to the patients,” the GSIS said in the citation that was read during the awarding ceremony.

 

According to Del Rosario, knowing that he was helping in increasing the hospital’s capability to serve its patients was what makes his life meaningful.

 

For Gerry B. Baucan, a level-III teacher at the Alfonso Tabora Elementary School in Baguio City, sharing what he knows with his charges while instilling in them the value of environmental protection is what keeps him passionately in love with his job.

 

Taking care of the future

 

“I wanted to teach children how to take care of the environment because doing so is one way to take care of their future,” Baucan said in Filipino.

 

Baucan was recognized as one of the outstanding public servants for his several contributions to environmental awareness. With his leadership, the “Clean and Green Program” of the Alfonso Tabora Elementary School won for the school the “Cleanest Purok in the Barangay” award.

 

Baucan taught the schoolchildren proper collection, disposal and recycling of solid wastes that gave the school its reputation for being clean and green. The waste materials that were collected were sold and the proceeds used for the repair of classrooms.

 

Baucan also taught the parents and students in a project to construct a nursery on the school grounds for fruit-bearing trees. The seedlings were sold to the farmers and the proceeds were used to finance beautification projects and the improvement of the school’s facilities.

 

Farmers’ productivity

 

Carmen C. Cubrado, the agricultural officer for the local government of Pilar, Bohol, was recognized for her contributions to her farming community.

 

Pilar was plagued by soil erosion, a serious problem for a community heavily dependent on farming. But with Cubrado’s leadership, Pilar was able to raise enough funds to support the implementation of various programs to improve farmers’ productivity.

 

Among these were the Municipal Land Care Program, which taught farmers how to fight soil erosion, and the establishment of the “Rice Enhancement Compact Demonstration Farm,” which promoted awareness on the use of certified hybrid rice seeds.

 

Cubrado is credited for helping improve the economic conditions of her community enough for Pilar to be lifted from 5th-class municipality to 4th-class municipality status.

 

Arelie C. Jacildo, a public school nurse in the Aringay district of La Union, is not your ordinary school nurse. Although she could very well have simplified her job by catering only to the students who visited the school clinic, Jacildo expanded the feeding programs to service neighboring schools.

 

“Many of our nurses are going abroad, but I cannot feel the same desire knowing many children in my community ware in need of health and education assistance,” Jacildo said.

 

By presenting her proposed health programs to non-government organizations and private citizens, Jacildo was able to generate much-needed funds.

 

She helped in the implementation of the feeding program in 19 schools in Aringay and helped raise funds for the surgery of poor students.

 

Visiting poor kids

 

According to colleagues, Jacildo devotes much of her time to visiting poor children living in far-flung villages, walking through mountain trails that cannot be reached by vehicle.

 

Melecio Fernandez is a social welfare assistant at the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Davao province. With his knowledge of plant propagation and motor vehicles, he has developed very useful rehabilitation programs for drug dependents involving these two fields.

 

Fernandez spearheaded the installation of an “orchidarium” at the Regional Rehabilitation Center for Drug Dependents in Bago, Davao City. His project was cited as one of the best therapies for rehabilitating drug dependents.

 

He was also instrumental in the teaching of young drug dependents at a rehabilitation center in Bago-Oshiro, Davao City welding, general body repair, painting and rewiring of vehicles.

 

He also prepared a project proposal on the Training of Technical Driving and Supervision, and trained drug dependent minors in basic driving techniques and the use of vehicle accessories and parts.

 

The last recipient of the Achievers in Public Service Award is Ninie C. del Rosario, an education supervisor in the Department of Education office in Davao City.

 

Del Rosario spearheaded a fund-raising project to finance feeding programs for schoolchildren in Davao City.

 

She also led in raising funds for the improvement of the facilities of the Sta. Ana Elementary School, such as the upgrading of laboratory equipment. Del Rosario is also credited with initiating the Science Festival at the Rizal Elementary School, which helped in promoting interest in science among the students.

 

Del Rosario, who has been a teacher for the past 23 years starting with an annual salary of P6,888, wrote and published science teaching modules for elementary teachers which are now in use among science teachers in Davao.

 

“That [small salary] did not bother me because I really love educating the children. If you enjoy your job, money will not matter so much. You will just realize that along the way, God will provide you with the things you need,” she said.

Aeta built bridge on little funds

By Tonette Orejas
Central Luzon Desk inquirer.net
Last updated 06:28pm (Mla time) 06/07/2007
CASTILLEJOS, Zambales, Philippines — In these times of sky-high construction costs, can one build a concrete bridge that is 25 feet long, three meters wide and with approaches spanning a total of 100 meters, on just P860,000?

 

The 300 Aeta and upland farmers in the subvillage of Kanaynayan in San Pablo village here did — on the sheer power of bayanihan (cooperation).

 

“Tulay namin ito (This is our bridge),” Calobhay Soria merrily exclaimed as he did the inaugural walk on Lanipan Bridge on Wednesday noon.

 

This Aeta man got a lot of sense of ownership, saying loudly, “Sa amin ito (This is ours).”

 

Behind him, Gemma Sulit gave a very satisfied smile. This Aeta woman knew what it meant to have no life line to the town center of Castillejos, a fourth-class municipality.

 

One rainy day in November 2003, Sulit was forced to give birth inside a half-submerged car that got trapped in the middle of the creek that bulges into a wild river every time it rains hard.

 

She named her son Pajero, after the name of the car owned by Born-Again Christian missionaries Pam and Martin Scott.

 

Raised five meters from the river bed, the new bridge finally ended their isolation from the town, Sulit said.

 

Oscar Almandares, an “unat” (straight-haired in contrast to Aeta who are “kulot” or kinky-haired), drove past in his tricycle, grinning at the comfort of hassle-free driving.

 

“It’s the first bridge to be built here,” he recalled. “Only carabaos dared to cross Lanipan then.”

 

Excited about the new bridge, about 30 Aeta hopped on top and inside the little truck they called “weapon.” (It is actually a weapons carrier salvaged from the US military during World War II).

 

Obviously, most everyone could not contain their glee.

 

But they took more pride in the fact that they managed to build something out of the scarce resources that the Scotts had pooled from their English compatriots abroad.

 

Theirs was a different way of doing things, one that’s rarely practiced in modern society.

 

Soria said: “We gave one day of work every week to build the bridge.”

 

“That was our part,” he said of the six groups of men who took turns constructing the project.

 

Credit that to the bayanihan culture of the Aeta, tribal chieftain Boransa Sulit said as the community feasted on two pigs, two goats and 20 chickens taken from the communal farm and cooked in five different ways.

 

It helped, too, Sulit said, that everybody appreciated the need for that bridge out of economic necessity.

 

 

“We could not bring down our crops when the rivers rise,” Sulit said. The other river is Pamatawan on the western side. Crops are gabi (taro), saging (bananas), ampalaya (bitter melon) and buho (a thin kind of bamboo used for roofing and fencing).

 

Since 1993, when the Aeta of Sitio Kakilingan in Barangay Santa Fe, San Marcelino resettled at Kanaynayan after the June 1991 eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo, they had to rent carabaos to haul their products to the market.

 

“If the owner of the carabao is a relative, we pay P150. To non-relatives, we pay P200. [The rent] takes out what small profit we make [from farming in mountain plots],” said Sulit.

 

Dr. Rufino Tima, an anthropologist who has worked with the Pinatubo Aeta for over 30 years, said these Aeta carried out the task “quite extraordinarily.”

 

“They live a hand-to-mouth existence and a day of no work would mean hunger. Yet they gave a day to finish this. That’s a whole lot of sacrifice,” Tima said.

 

The Scotts provided “only a good lunch and snack” for the volunteers who, in turn, shared these with their families. The sweet potatoes from their own farms came in handy, too.

 

The work was started on Feb. 12 and finished last week.

 

Mayor Wilma Billman estimated that if done by a private contractor, the bridge would have cost about P5 million.

 

“Solved na ang problema. Nagawa sa tulungan (The problem is solved, done by a lot of helping),” the mayor said. “It pays to work as a community.”

 

“Mura yun (It’s cheap),” said Alfredo Tolentino, director of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Luzon, when told of the cost.

 

Filipino co-workers, Jhay and Jaime, designed the bridge by “putting a lot of common sense to it.” The three of them worked six times a week, sparing Sunday for religious services.

 

Every donation was put to good use. Felix Bourger supplied the materials at very reasonable prices.

 

As counterpart, Tima’s Aeta Development Association (ADA) provided the “weapon” to haul the gravel from another river.

 

It delivered also the stones that were piled on top of the other to buttress the sides of the approaches that remained made out of mountain soil.

 

The association also provided the bulldozer that did earth-filling and moving works. The river’s course was trained to protect the toes of the bridge’s concrete piles.

 

The De Jesus and Fabunan families donated portions of their lands to give the bridge a site.

 

Billman, the first woman mayor, had supervised the paving of the dirt road herself.

 

The Scotts, who are both members of the Zambales-based Lotus Foundation, were the silent movers in this endeavor, according to the foundation’s chair Irene Valenton. “They’re an inspiration,” she said of the couple

6,861 to retake nursing licensure exams in Central Visayas

By Jolene Bulambot, Joey A. Gabieta
Visayas Bureau inquirer.net
Last updated 07:07pm (Mla time) 06/07/2007

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Close to 7,000 examinees from all over Central Visayas are scheduled to take the nursing licensure board examination in Cebu this Sunday, amid tight security to ensure there will be no repeat of the leakage controversy that marred last year’s exam.

 

The number of examinees will be twice higher than those who took the exam in Cebu in 2006. Among them are 1,414 re-takers, or those who passed the 2006 examination but were required to take the test again after investigation revealed that two parts of the licensure tests were leaked, according to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

 

In Eastern Visayas, more than 100 nursing graduates who took the controversial June 2006 licensure board examinations are set to retake the examination this week in Tacloban City.

 

They are among the 386 nursing graduates in the region who will sit the test at the St. Paul’s Business School in Tacloban City, according to Norma Tupaz, administrative officer of the PRC in the region.

 

Lawyer Dan Malayang, acting director for the PRC in Central Visayas, said on Thursday 6,861 examinees are scheduled to take the exam on June 10 and 11 in four designated schools in Cebu City. In 2006, there were only 3,200 nursing graduates who took the exam in Cebu, he added.

 

Malayang said he requested the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police to assist them in securing the test questionnaires scheduled to arrive on Friday on board a Philippine Airlines flight at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) in the company of two Manila-based examiners.

 

From the airport, the test papers will be brought to the storage area of the PRC regional office in the village of Guadalupe, according to Malayang.

 

He said the storage room would be sealed beginning Friday and would be secured by 12 personnel from the NBI and PNP who would come in three shifts until Sunday.

 

“The test questionnaires will be opened on the first day of the examinations in the presence of NBI agents and the police in the examination sites,” he said.

 

“We assure you that for several years we have been very transparent. There was no instance that leakage and cheating occurred in Cebu,” Malayang said on Thursday.

 

Malayang said they would post the names of the examinees and their respective school assignments on Friday at the regional office. The exams will take place at the University of Cebu-LapuLapu and Mandaue campus, UC-Banilad, UC-main and Cebu Normal University.

 

Around 730 room watchers and personnel would be tapped to man the exams. The Department of Education has sent volunteers to assist the PRC, Malayang added.

 

The questionnaires bound for Tacloban would also be tightly guarded just like those in Cebu.

 

Tupaz said the test papers would be brought to Tacloban by two examiners from Manila and would be immediately deposited inside a vault at the PRC regional office. Like in Cebu, the PRC office would also be guarded by NBI and PNP personnel.

Albay farmers get P2-M farm tools

By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
Last updated 07:52pm (Mla time) 06/07/2007

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines — Gradually recovering from the series of disasters late last year, some 26,215 farmers in Albay received P2 million worth of farm tools from the provincial government in a joint project with the World Food Program, the United Nations’ food aid branch.

 

A total of 5,100 pieces of shovel, hoe, trowel, rake, and sprayer donated by the WFP were being distributed to clusters of farmers since Monday, said Mishael Argonza, head of the WFP-Legazpi office.

 

Cost of damage to agriculture in Albay amounted to more than P533.4 million due to supertyphoon “Reming.”

 

Albay Governor Fernando Gonzalez said there were 230 clusters of farmers from 15 municipalities who received sets of farming tools for collective use.

 

The provincial government also gave sacks of fertilizers and seedlings.

 

“We are encouraging our farmers to plant root crops, too, and should not be dependent on bananas and coconuts, which they have been used to planting. We are preparing them here for future climactic disturbances,” Gonzalez said.

 

He added that the provincial government, with the help of nongovernment donors, has extensively distributed seedlings and fertilizers to the farmers after supertyphoon “Reming.”

 

Aside from giving away vegetable seeds like pechay (Chinese cabbage), okra, upo (bottle gourd), mongo (mungbean), sitao (stringbean), hybrid kamote (sweet potato) cuttings, gabi (taro) tubers, sweet corn and glutinous corn, the government also gave the farmers more trainings on production and modern farming methods.

 

“We don’t want to go very fast because we have to ensure the sustainability of our early measures. We hope to increase our benefiting clusters from 230 to 600 in the future,” Gonzalez said.

 

He added that the agricultural situation in the Albay has improved after the disasters.

 

Gonzalez said some of the farmers have started to harvest and there is now a stable food situation in Albay.

 

“High prices of vegetables as a result of the typhoons have gone down and we are now producing sufficient supply of products,” the governor said.

 

The WFP, which was behind the food-for-work projects for farmers and disaster refugees here since December, already gave a total of 830 metric tons of rice, nine metric tons of mongo beans, and 4.7 metric tons of edible oil, Argonza said.

 

He added that 704 metric tons more rice was expected to arrive for distribution to their beneficiaries until September. The WFP extends assistance to some 26,215 farmers and 15,425 evacuees.

EU contributes P62M for Mindanao peace fund

By Veronica Uy

Last updated 06:17pm (Mla time) 06/07/2007

 

MANILA, Philippines — The European Union on Thursday turned over its initial contribution of one million euros (about P62 million) to the World Bank-administered Mindanao Trust Fund aimed to help achieve peace and development in southern Philippines.

 

“This contribution of one million euros is an initial step in our commitment to the multi-donor initiative for Mindanao, focusing on confidence-building measures and reconstruction activities particularly in conflict-affected areas of the region,” said Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines.

 

The fund was established in July 2005, and is administered by the World Bank. It provides grant funding to conflict-affected areas, primarily for stabilizing existing communities and resettling displaced persons.

 

The EU contribution will bankroll Phase 1 activities, which involve capacity-building support to the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA), as well as implementing pilot sub-projects in some villages and municipalities.

 

The proposed Phase 2 will implement a substantial development program through disbursement of block grants for sub-projects in conflict-affected areas, and provide technical assistance and expanded capacity-building support. A phased transfer of program management responsibility to the Bangsamoro entity to be established under the peace agreement is foreseen.

 

MacDonald handed over the contribution to World Bank country director Joachim von Amsberg in a simple ceremony witnessed by Secretary Jesus Dureza, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, and BDA chairman Dr. Abas Candao.

House adjourns sine die

By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 09:03pm (Mla time) 06/07/2007

 

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives adjourned sine die Thursday at exactly 8:10 pm.

 

Speaker Jose de Venecia presided the last session day of the 13th Congress.

 

But before the adjournment, he gave the rostrum to House Minority Leader and now Senator-elect Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who presided over the closing the plenary, a practice in the lower chamber before it adjourns sine die.

 

Escudero, who placed second in the Senate race, thanked his colleagues, whom he had worked with during his nine-year term as representative of the First District of Sorsogon.

 

 

 

“My only request and challenge for lawmakers of the 14th Congress is for them to become genuine voice of the people,” he said. “I hope they’ll uphold the real sentiments of our countrymen in this chamber like what we’re going to do in the upper chamber.”

 

 

 

While the opposition will retain its majority in the 24-seat Senate, administration candidates won most of the 220 districts in 81 provinces represented in the House of Representatives.

Agrarian reform far from complete after 19 years — NGO

By TJ Burgonio
Inquirer
Last updated 09:20pm (Mla time) 06/07/2007
MANILA, Philippines — With one year to go before it expires, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is far from meeting its target of redistributing eight-million hectares of land to the poor — and its extension hangs in the balance.

 

Three coalitions of nongovernmental organizations advocating agrarian reform — Unorka, Peace and Parrds — came to this conclusion in their study: “19 Years of CARP: Gains, Reversals and Uncertainties.”

 

is the Pambansang Ugnayan ng Nagsasariling Lokal na mga Samahang Mamamayan sa Kanayunan, Peace is the Philippine Ecumenical Action for Community Empowerment Foundation Network, while Parrds is the Partnership for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Services.

 

CARP marks 19 years on Sunday with the program set to end in June 2008.

 

“At 19 years of CARP and with the threat of nonextension looming on the horizon, it is clear agrarian reform remains far from complete,” the NGOs said in their study.

 

They said that based on government figures, more than 6.7-million hectares of private and public lands of the 8.06 million targeted for redistribution by 2008 had been given out to more than four million peasants.

 

The NGOs doubted the government data, however, pointing out that some areas could not be covered by CARP due to the resistance of landlords and the presence of armed leftist guerrillas.

 

They also said the accomplishment report appeared to be bloated and that 600,000 hectares that were “newly discovered” for coverage were not new at all.

 

Fluctuations in the government CARP target ranging from eight million to 9.1 million hectares could mean that targeted landholdings could be “arbitrarily removed” from coverage, they said.

 

“For these reasons, we do not believe the government’s claim the land redistribution program is 85-percent complete,” the NGOs said.

 

A more realistic number is 40-percent completion if the millions of hectares of private and public lands that “mysteriously disappeared” from the CARP scope were factored in, they said.

 

Citing studies, Unorka, Peace and Parrds acknowledged that CARP had its major gains, like increasing farmers’ incomes, hence, contributing to poverty alleviation in the countryside.

 

They said there were success stories, particularly in agrarian reform communities (ARCs) where land redistribution was complemented with a “more systematic delivery of support services.”

 

The NGOs, however, said that only 1.069 million land reform beneficiaries had benefited from the establishment of ARCs, into which government support services are poured.

 

“To expand the number of beneficiaries, DAR must sustain and expand the coverage of ARCs nationwide. Support services must also reach upland communities,” they said.

 

Despite these gains, the NGOs asserted that agrarian reform was “on the retreat” because of reversals in CARP implementation.

 

Among these were the reaffirmation of the exemption of livestock areas, the exemption of areas covered by pre-CARP zoning, and the continued implementation of anomalous mechanisms such as the stock distribution option (SDO) and leaseback based on voluntary land transfer or voluntary offer to sell.

 

The SDO at Hacienda Luisita, the sprawling sugar estate owned by the Cojuangco family in Tarlac, was proof of a “bankrupt corporate model” that allowed corporations to control the land, the NGOs said.