Western Visayas ranked third among the other regions in the country in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in 2007, Negros Occidental PARO Teresita Depeñoso said yesterday.

Depeñoso, who attended the national CARP assessment in Manila early this month, said Central Visayas topped the ranking, while Central Luzon placed second.

The assessment, attended by DAR regional directors and PAROs , was based on the performance of the regions on land acquisition, support service delivery, and delivery of agrarian justice, she said.

Each region was rated according to the accomplishment in their performance contract given every year and Western Visayas was able to impress the national office with its implementation of the program, Depeñoso said.

She also said that the prevailing sentiment among DAR regional directors who attended the national assessment was to extend the program beyond June 2008.

However, the change of leadership in the House of Representatives is expected to have some effect on the various proposals submitted in relation to the agrarian reform program, she said.

Depeñoso acknowledged that in Negros Occidental, existing groups of agrarian reform beneficiaries are divided on the issue of CARP.

Task Force Mapalad had vigilantly called for the extension of the program while those allied with the National Federation of Sugar Farmers pushed for CARP abolition.*NAB

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