Officially, the largest remaining balances are in the Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Western Visayas and ARMM regions (Table 6). In Western Visayas, 80 percent of the LAD balance is in the province of Negros Occidental and consists mainly of large private plantations. In Eastern Visayas, 80 percent of the LAD balance are private lands in the province of Leyte. Table 6. Number of agrarian reform beneficiaries and cumulative LAD accomplishments, 1972-2017 Region NATIONAL Cumulative LAD Cumulative Number Average Accomplishment of Agrarian Reform Land Size per 1972 to Dec Beneficiaries Beneficiary 2017 1972 to Dec 2017 (in ha) (in ha) Remaining Balance as of 01 Jan 2018 (in ha) 4,790,234 2,835,743 1.6892 561,131 CAR 102,496 81,569 1.2566 2,365 I – Ilocos Region 143,510 119,370 1.2022 1,232 II – Cagayan Valley 366,914 212,064 1.7302 43,367 III – Central Luzon 431,537 284,179 1.5185 13,134 IV-A – CALABARZON 189,957 124,229 1.5291 19,289 IV-B – MIMAROPA 180,414 130,753 1.3798 3,196 V – Bicol Region 325,373 195,292 1.6661 78,558 VI – Western Visayas 412,243 317,908 1.2967 134,621 VII – Central Visayas 184,350 147,637 1.2487 12,268 VIII – Eastern Visayas 433,747 196,689 2.2052 58,411 IX – Zamboanga Peninsula 228,874 131,271 1.7435 7,015 X – Northern Mindanao 361,563 218,565 1.6543 18,599 XI – Davao Region 248,828 180,382 1.3795 8,817 XII – Central Mindanao 687,490 289,173 2.3774 33,740 XIII – CARAGA 271,343 136,101 1.9937 15,417 ARMM 221,595 70,561 3.1405 111,100 Source: DAR Bureau of Land Tenure Improvement, 2018. In recent years, however, the need to fast track LAD seems to have been overlooked. DAR accomplished only 27 percent of its LAD target in 2016, and 82 percent of its LAD target in 2017. Under its rationalization plan, the DAR had reassigned more field staff to provinces with high LAD backlogs, but the results remain far from what was desired. The reasons for DAR’s implementation delays in recent years include: n The overly cautious attitude of DAR implementers for fear that landowners will file cases against them if they proceed with CARP 42 Status of Land and Resource Tenure Reform in the Philippines 2018