Cong. Risa Hontiveros could not have put it more aptly and eloquently: the joint resolution of Congress extending CARP to June 2009 sans compulsory acquisition is tantamount to the obliteration of an entire class. Who do they think they're fooling? It's shameful and downright disgusting, really that our Congress could so blatantly violate the Constitutional provisions on social justice and come out with such a resolution. It's shameful that the president (or so her title goes) herself cannot muster enough political will and plain and simple DECENCY given that tracts of heretofore undistributed agricultural lands belong to the family of non other that the first gentleman himself. What's equally shameful is the fact that the many landed interests in Congress deign to call themselves representatives of their respective constituencies considering first and foremost, thru their actions, they protected no other interest but their own. and Senators Aquino and Roxas abstaining? Who are they trying to fool? 
Below is the Rep. Risa Hontiveros' explanation of vote on the Joint Resolution extending CARP without compulsory acquisition: To vote YES to the Joint Resolution would be to vote for the death of agrarian reform.
Compulsory acquisition is the heart and soul of the agrarian reform program. The 1987 Constitution commands the State to undertake the just distribution of ALL agricultural lands. The fact that all agricultural lands should be the subject of CARP tells us that acquisition should be compulsory and not at the option or whim of the landowner. I cannot, in good faith, sign my name on a Resolution manifestly unconstitutional and grossly illegal.
Huwag na po nating kumbinsihin ang ating sarili na an gating ginagawa ngayon ay para sa magsasaka. Huwag na po tayo maghugas ng kamay sa ating magiging pagkasala sa sambayanan.
There are 1.3 M hectares of land yet undistributed. These lands are in agrarian reform hotspots like Negros and Bondoc Peninsula, where landowner resistance has resulted not only in non-distribution but also in oppression and outright violence. These are the types of landowners who would never voluntarily give up their lands. If they have managed to circumvent the law under a policy regime of compulsory acquisition, how much more under a framework of optional agrarian reform?
Hinahamon ko ang mga ginagalang na kasama sa Negros at sa mga iba pang kasama na may lupa na boluntaryo ninyong ipasaklaw sa agrarian reform ang inyong mga lupa. Huwag natin gamitin ang Kongreso at ang ating posisyon upang ipagtanggol ang sarili nating interes. Ipamahagi ninyo sa loob nitong anim na buwan ang inyong mga lupa.
Ginoong Speaker, napakalaki na po ng utang ng kasaysayan sa ating mga magsasaka. Sa Joint Resolution na ito, tuluyan na natin silang papatayin.
Tonight, Ginoong Speaker, we have managed to obliterate an entire class. The countryside will never forget this moment. We have let our farmers down.
Akbayan votes no.
Outrage follows Congress move
Moratorium on compulsory land distribution stands By Leila Salaverria, TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:08:00 12/19/2008
MANILA, Philippines—It was denounced as nothing more than a “betrayal” of a 20-year promise to free farmers from bondage to the soil.
Expressions of outrage followed the swift approval by Congress on Wednesday of a joint resolution extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) for another six months but calling for a moratorium on compulsory land acquisition.
“This is a betrayal of the farmers’ cause in the guise of serving their interest,” said Christian Monsod, former chair of the Commission on Elections and counsel for the farmers’ group Task Force Mapalad.
Agrarian reform, Monsod stressed, is the “social justice mandate” of the Constitution. “To do away with the compulsory acquisition and distribution is to change the intent and letter of the Constitution,” he said.
“It’s not only unconstitutional for not complying with the compulsory distribution of land as mandated by the Constitution, it’s also illegal. It’s null and void,” said Arlene Bag-ao, a lawyer for landless farmers.
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales said he was saddened by the turn of events on the government’s centerpiece program to eradicate poverty and promote social justice.
They acted like traitors
During a homily at a Misa de Gallo and a visit to farmers on hunger strike outside Congress, Rosales slammed lawmakers who he said were supposed to help the poor but “acted like traitors,” ignoring pleas of farmers and prelates.
He said landowners employed lawyers to circumvent the law and reminded lawmakers about the late President Ramon Magsaysay’s declaration that those who have less in life should have more in law.
“They mocked you and treated you like children,” Rosales said of the farmers who are demanding the distribution of a sugar hacienda owned by the family of President Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband.
“They thought they could fool you,” Rosales said. “If the law is harsh to the poor, we will give voice to the poor. Cast this in stone, what you do not wish will not happen.”
Congress had been debating the CARP law, enacted in 1988 during the Corazon Aquino presidency, for months even before it expired in June. The program was first extended for six months until the end of this month.
On Tuesday, in a meeting between leaders of the two houses of Congress and Ms Arroyo, an agreement was hammered out to issue another resolution extending the CARP law until June 2009, this time with a caveat that there would be no compulsory acquisition of land, described as the “heart and soul” of the program.
The President certified the resolution for urgent action by the two chambers on Wednesday.
Palace respects Congress
Malacañang on Thursday issued a statement saying it “respects the collective judgment of both the Senate and the House in passing the joint resolution.”
The vote in the House of Representatives shortly before midnight Wednesday on the eve of a monthlong Christmas break was 111-34 with one abstention. In the Senate the vote earlier in the night was 14 and two abstentions, cast by Senators Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas, scions of wealthy sugar plantation owners.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that the moratorium would allow Congress to review implementation of the program and raised the possibility that it could again be extended for another six months if necessary.
“We must cure the inherent defects of the law, especially in its implementation,” Speaker Prospero Nograles said. “It must be a CARP law with reforms.”
According to Monsod, some 640,000 hectares out of the remaining 1.3 million waiting to be distributed were under the compulsory land acquisition mode, making up more than 60 percent of the land reform program.
“They left the voluntary offer to sell and transfer of ownership modes, which make agrarian reform optional, and hence, violates the spirit and letter of the Constitution,” he said.
“Agrarian reform covers all agricultural lands. That’s what the constitutional provision says.”
‘It’s dead’
Without the compulsory acquisition and distribution mode, the government is abdicating its power to compel landowners to distribute lands to farmers, Monsod said.
“If you take out this mode, who will volunteer to distribute lands?” he asked. “In effect, the big landowners will circumvent the program. There’s no more agrarian reform program. It’s dead.”
In the past six months, the biggest issue had been the “question of compulsory land distribution,” Monsod pointed out.
“Do you think they can solve that in the next six months? I doubt it,” he said.
“Congress has effectively yielded the comprehensive agrarian reform program to landed interests and no less than the family of Ms Arroyo will benefit from this action,” said Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay.
“Our farmers have shown incredible patience but their patience is slowly wearing thin, especially with an administration that makes promises it cannot keep,” said Binay, who is the president of the United Opposition.
On Rosales’ plea, the eight farmers who began a hunger strike 18 days ago ended their hunger strike and had a meal of porridge with chicken brought by the cardinal.
The others who subsequently joined the farmers in the past four days also broke their fast, including Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo.
They had set up camp outside Congress and slept on cardboard boxes under a makeshift canvass tent. With a report from Michael Lim Ubac, Miko Morelos and Norman Bordadora