Gonzales to DAR: Go easy on CARP implementation

BACOLOD CITY — Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales has advised the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to "go easy" on the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) after the agency expressed its intention to forcibly install agrarian reform beneficiaries in contentious areas.

DAR’s renewed vigor in meeting its CARP target through force is alarming, Gonzales said, adding that the agency should refrain from making moves that would threaten landowners.

DAR Undersecretary Bernardo Cruz earlier said his department is forming an inter-agency task force to help install farmers in CARP "hot spots."

The task force will include the departments of the interior and local government, national defense and justice, the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces.

The DAR has identified Negros Occidental and Oriental, Iloilo, Davao del Norte, Masbate and the Bondoc Peninsula as "agrarian reform hot spots" based on the recommendations of the Pambansang Ugnayan ng mga Nagsasariling Lokal na Organisasyon sa Kanayunan (Unorka) and Task Force Mapalad.

The group claimed that the DAR asked it to submit a list of provinces where landowners were allegedly harassing farmer-beneficiaries and blocking the CARP implementation.

Gonzales said the DAR should not be too harsh. "The DAR can ask for assistance but (it) cannot use the police and Army against the landowners," he said.

DAR’s pronouncements also drew flak from police authorities in Negros Occidental and elsewhere in Western Visayas.

Region 6 police director Doroteo Reyes said he will not allow his men to be used in such actions.

"The role of the PNP in agrarian reform conflicts is to maintain peace and order and not use force against ‘resisting landowners,’" he said.

Police records show that several policemen in Negros Occidental, including two police chiefs, have been caught in the crossfire between landowners and agrarian reform beneficiaries, with court cases still pending against them.

Negros Occidental police director Charles Calima said he prefers to exhaust all peaceful means in resolving agrarian reform-related conflicts.

While the DAR has promised legal aid for the police, "this is not enough and the policemen are still forced to come up with their own resources when facing these charges which, in the first place, they should not have been involved with," Calima said.

These legal cases have caused low morale among policemen because they hinder the possibility of getting promotions, he added.

Meanwhile, the DAR targets the distribution of 22,000 hectares this year. Last year, it distributed 4,071 hectares.