DAR to form task force of carp lawyers in C. Visayas

MANILA, Philippines - Following the killing of one of its lawyers, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Central Visayas office will set up a task force to handle all pending cases on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. Online news site Visayan Daily Star reported that the murder of Eleazar Casipong last Saturday prompted DAR Region-7’s move. Authorities are still determining the motive for the killing of Casipong by unidentified armed men. DAR 7 Regional Director Rodolfo Inson said there are plans to create a task force of lawyers from the provincial DAR offices in Cebu, Bohol and Negros Oriental. Inson said Louie Naranjo is handling all pending CARP cases in Negros Oriental. Before his death, Casipong was handling at least 16 agrarian cases, some of them sensitive. Inson said the DAR-7 office is now reviewing all pending agrarian cases in the region that will be handled and resolved by the proposed task force of legal counsels. He cited the inadequate number of lawyers assigned to the provinces in the region. DAR has three lawyers in Cebu, one each in Bohol and Negros Oriental, and none in Siquijor. Inson said they will list the cases according to priority following a discussion with the DAR-7 regional legal chief. The DAR-7 battery of lawyers will jointly focus on cases that have been pending for more than a year, he added. - GMANews.TV