Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon yesterday said he is calling for an investigation into the findings that some agrarian reform beneficiaries have received two or more Certificates of Land Ownership Awards.

We want these duplications investigated, the Department of Agrarian Reform should explain what these mean, the governor said.

DAR Regional Director Alexis Arsenal, however, said it is not illegal for a CARP beneficiary to be a holder of more than one CLOA as long as the the three hectares allowed by the law.

It is not uncommon, he said, for a beneficiary to be issued more than one CLOA as he or she may have been given parcels of land in separate areas of a property covered by agrarian reform.

Meanwhile, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas yesterday assailed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's so-called call for a new land reform bill, saying the announcement is a desperate move to cover up the failure of the 19- year-old CARP.

"It's plain and simple hogwash. There's nothing new with Ms Arroyo's so-called revised agrarian reform program," KMP chair Rafael Mariano said in a press statement.

Mariano was reacting to President Arroyo's statements in Negros Friday that she would like to see a revised land reform law that will promote higher productivity, provide greater access to credit and address existing conflicts effectively.

The President asked congressmen to submit an appropriate bill for study by all stakeholders, Presidential Adviser for Western Visayas Rafael Coscolluela said.

"Ms Arroyo's statement shows both her callousness and ignorance to genuine land reform," Mariano said adding that "the President consciously avoided the term distributive land reform."

Mariano said the President was merely calling for extension - cum - revision to CARP to introduce more convenient legal maneuvers to evade land distribution and corporate tricks of land-grabbing.

The KMP is calling for the implementation of a genuine and distributive land

"The Filipino peasantry will greet Ms Arroyo's State of the Nation Address next week with a resounding opposition to CARP's extension and to the regime's intensifying attacks on the people," the KMP leader vowed.*CPG

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