There will be poverty and bloodshed if the the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is not approved, two former secretaries of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) said Tuesday.

According to ex-DAR chief Horacio "Boy" Morales, failure to extend CARP would lead to greater poverty as families of peasants lose the land that helped send their children to school and bring food to the table.

For his part, former agrarian reform secretary Hernani "Nani" Braganza  said that less food and bloodshed, among others, serve as the net effect of the non-extension of the CARP. The insurgency, he said, was brought about by poverty.

"As former Secretaries of the DAR during its most contentious phase, we believe that the moment has come to let our voices be heard. We join our farmers, the youth, and our Church leaders in imploring Congress to persevere in enacting a bill to extend the agrarian reform program and to appropriate the required budget to accomplish its remaining targets," Morales and Braganza said in a joint statement.

Morales and Braganza made the statement upon joining 36 farmers camped outside the Batasang Pambansa, pressing lawmakers to pass the law before it expires on December 31. Morales is the former DAR secretary under President Estrada while Braganza served in the early part of the Arroyo administration.

"Land distribution and acquisition or LAD is being threatened to be excluded in the CARP extension debate, the program is being starved of funds, targets are being reduced and committed and capable staff are leaving. A few legislators have kidnapped for ransom the single most important social reform program this country has enacted to stem violence and conflict in the countryside," they said.

Meanwhile, majority floor leader Arthur Defensor said that the hunger strike of various sectors has pressured the House of Representatives to meet the public's expectations regarding the CARP extension.

"We are not unmindful of the things around us...There is reason to hope on the fate of the CARP," he said in an interview.

The House is set to vote on a proposal to extend CARP by five years. The law was passed in 1988 with a life of 10 years. It has been extended once, and is due to expire this year.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo and Fr. Archie Casey of the Association of Major Religious Superiors on Monday joined the farmers who are pleading for CARP's extension.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Vidal, and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) President Angel Lagdameo have also sent a letter to House speaker Prospero Nograles and Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile, asking them to prioritize the bill's passage before Congress goes on its Christmas break on the 19th. With reports from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News, abs-cbnNEWS.com, and dzMM