Pascual said he got the assignment from the Cardinal because the latter is scheduled to leave for Rome next month.

"I was assigned together with former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Christian Monsod to meet with Senate President Enrile and Speaker Nograles to discuss CARP extension and reforms," he said.

"The Church is seeking a dialogue both with the Upper and Lower House of Congress in order to persuade the country’s lawmakers to give the CARP additional five years," added Pascual.

The head of Caritas Manila is also convinced that President Arroyo’s pledge of support for CARP would be a big boost to the Church’s advocacy.

Last Friday, Cardinal Rosales and Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal had a dialogue with President Arroyo in Malacanang where they discussed the issue on CARP.

"The President promised Cardinals Rosales and Vidal that her administration is one with the Church in pushing for the passage of Senate Bill 2666 and House Bill 4077. Malacanang is not the problem. The Church has the full support of the President," Pascual said.

"But while the President supports the advocacy of the farmers for a genuine land reform program, it is still Congress which will decide on the fate of CARP extension and reforms," the priest added.

Fr. Pascual also urged all those support the farmers to help by convincing their lawmakers to pass CARP in the name of social justice.

"We need to advocate now with Senators and Congressmen to put moral pressure. There is also a need for bishops to personally call on their respective legislators to pass CARP. We have three months to turn the tide to CARP’s favor and Veritas 846 will sustain the tide," he said.

GMA rallies 2 sons,

Allies to back CARP

By GENALYN KABILING

President Arroyo has reminded her two sons, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo and Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Ignacio Arroyo, not to break the legacy of the Macapagal family on agrarian reform amid reports they were blocking the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in Congress.

The President has appealed to her congressional allies, including her two sons serving at the House of Representatives, to support a bill that seeks to extend the life of CARP for five years, according to Press Secretary Cerge Remonde.

Remonde said the President remains supportive of the CARP extension law, including the acquisition and distribution of private lands to farmers, adding she has already endorsed it as an urgent measure in Congress.

"Agrarian reform is a tradition of the Macapagal family. It will be recalled that the first President that introduced land reform in the Philippines is the late President Diosdado Macapagal, the father of our President Gloria Arroyo," he said, when asked if the President would try to convince her two sons to support the CARP extension bill.

"In other words, since panahon pa ng kanyang ama talagang ang Macapagal are in favor of land reform that is why land reform is really one of the programs of President Arroyo," Remonde added.

President Arrroyo has allowed a joint congressional resolution on six-month extension of CARP, which dropped its compulsory land acquisition and distribution provision, to lapse into law last January.

But she expects lawmakers to craft a final extension law that would represent the consensus of farmers and other stakeholders of land reform.

Remonde explained the President has certified the CARP extension bill, authored by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, mainly because of the Macapagal tradition on land reform.

"As far as the President is concerned, she fully supports this bill and proof of that is she certified it as urgent," he said.

Last Friday, the President assured her consistent support for CARP extension during a meeting with Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal in Malacanang.

At the meeting, Remonde said the bishops agreed they would hold dialogue with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Prospero Nograles this week to get the measure passed.

"The ball in so far as CARP is concerned is in both Houses of Congress," he said.

Last year, the two chambers of Congress passed a joint resolution extending CARP by six months from December 31, excluding the mandatory land transfers, reportedly the heart and soul of the program Rep. Mikey Arroyo, his brother Diosdado, and his uncle Rep. Ignacio Arroyo of Negros Occidental all voted for the six-month extension, raising speculations they were trying to protect their lands.

The Arroyo family reportedly own around 500 hectares of sugar lands in Negros Occidental which has evaded CARP coverage in the program’s implementation in the last two decades.