Don’t connive with peasant groups, DAR workers warned

BACOLOD CITY — The Western Visayas chief of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) warned the agency’s key personnel in Negros Occidental that he would not hesitate to remove them from their assignments if they are found to be in cahoots with militant peasant groups in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

DAR regional director Alexis Arsenal issued the warning following the order of Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon for an audit of the CARP implementation in the province since 1995.

Marañon made the move to determine if agrarian reform beneficiaries installed are still in possession of their land.

The governor met with the Coalition of Landowners of the Philippines (CLP) earlier this week to listen to their concerns, mainly on the legitimacy of some agrarian reform beneficiaries.

The landowners also voiced out their apprehensions following DAR pronouncements that it would forcibly install farmer-beneficiaries in contentious areas.

CLP president Mario Villanueva said that while landowners recognize the right of landless farmers to claim ownership of CARP-covered land, their rights should also be respected.

"We are not resisting CARP. We just want to make sure that those who will benefit from the land are the authentic beneficiaries and not ‘imported’ from other areas," he said.

Villanueva said peasant organizations have sown so much confusion, most often resulting in conflicts.

"It is still the same problem. The cry of the landowners is that some of the agrarian reform beneficiaries being installed in their haciendas are not their legitimate farmworkers," Marañon said.

An audit of the CARP implementation would help DAR identify loopholes and address them accordingly, he said.

Meanwhile, Arsenal said Marañon also wants an explanation on the alleged connivance of DAR personnel with Task Force Mapalad, a militant peasant group, in the implementation of CARP, particularly on the reported inclusion of "imported" agrarian reform beneficiaries in several contentious, but highly productive landholdings.

"If this is proven, I will appoint personnel from the regional office to lead the (CARP) implementation in Negros Occidental," he said.

Provincial agrarian reform officer Felicidad Bañares earlier denied the allegations.