Mrs. Arroyo said CARP would not be successful in encouraging farmers to produce more rice if they would not be able to use their farmlands as collateral for borrowing money to cultivate their lands.

"That’s the reason why I say if we want CARP to be successful, we must include a provision that allows farmers to use their agriculture lands for credit. They never become agribusinessmen," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Speaker Prospero Nograles said the House of Representatives would be able to pass the proposed five-year extension of CARP which would expire on June 10, 2008.

Mrs. Arroyo had earlier certified as urgent the bill extending CARP to allow the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to complete the distribution of two million more hectares of land covered by the agrarian reform program.

Mrs. Arroyo said that according to Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, loans to farmers have "dramatically increased" since the budget for agricultural loans to farmers was increased.

"I asked him to look at the Land Bank records, and he confirmed that we have dramatically been increasing loans for our farmers, especially for capital expenditures," she said.