The Department of Agrarian Reform is readying options for employees hired for the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in preparation for the termination of the program in June this year, Negros Occidental PARO Teresita Depeñoso said yesterday.

She said that, as early as 2005, DAR had set in place a rationalization plan for those to be affected by the termination of CARP.

Those who can not be absorbed by DAR will be transferred to other government agencies, or they can opt for a retirement package, Depeñoso said.

She explained that what will expire in June is the directory of CARP implementation and not the agrarian reform program itself, as provided in the Constitution.

The DAR, she said, will continue to exist since the agrarian reform program has a budget allocation in the General Appropriations Act.

While indicators are favorable for CARP extension beyond 2008, she said it will be impossible for the House of Representatives to pass a new bill before the program expires in June, adding that congressmen seemed to have a hard time consolidating all the seven CARP bills filed.

Depeñoso said they are aspiring for at least a six-year extension, although another 10-year program will have a greater impact.

With various farmers’ groups in the province pushing for extension before June, the provincial DAR office is bracing itself for public demonstrations from these groups, she said.

Meanwhile, Depeñoso and her staff are scheduled to meet today with Gov. Isidro Zayco to discuss DAR’s programs in the province that were presented to the late Gov. Joseph Marañon.

Depeñoso said she is optimistic that Zayco will be supportive of the DAR programs and will continue to extend similar assistance to that given by the former governor.*NAB

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