NEGROS Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. questioned the Land Acquisition and Distribution (LAD) of the Department of Agrarian Reform covering small parcel of lands while they beat the June 30 expiration of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp).
"From what I knew, Carp should cover vast lands with an average area of not less than five hectares. But based on the list they published on national dailies, there were areas less than a hectare covered," the governor pointed out.
Marañon added that even the factory of Lopez Sugar Corp. and Victorias Milling Corp. which are supposed to be industrial lands are even covered by the LAD as published by DAR.
"It is very sweeping. They just rush things without conducting thorough study. They should only concentrate on Carpable lands," he said.
In Negros Occidental, preliminary data gathered by the Task Force Mapalad showed there are over 128,000 hectares of agricultural landholdings covering 188 haciendas in 12 municipalities that remain without the Notice of Coverage (NOC).
Marañon has been reiterating his stand that if Carp is extended, it should focus only on support services because he considers land reform a failure.