Agrarian Reform

e hectarage of private individuals

and corporations may acquire: 16 has. for private individuals and 1,024 has.

for corporations.

 Land Registration Act of 1902 (Act No. 496) – Provided for a comprehensive

registration of land titles under the Torrens system.

 Public Land Act of 1903 – introduced the homestead system in the Philippines.

 Tenancy Act of 1933 (Act No. 4054 and 4113) – regulated relationships

between landowners and tenants of rice (50-50 sharing) and sugar cane

lands.

The Torrens system, which the Americans instituted for the registration of lands, did

not solve the problem completely. Either they were not aware of the law or if they

did, they could not pay the survey cost and other fees required in applying for a

Torrens title.

Commonwealth Period

“Government for the Filipinos”

President Manuel L. Quezon espoused the "Social Justice" program to arrest the

increasing social unrest in Central Luzon.

Significant legislation enacted during Commonwealth Period:

 1935 Constitution – "The promotion of social justice to ensure the well-being

and economic security of all people should be the concern of the State"

 Commonwealth Act No. 178 (An Amendment to Rice Tenancy Act No. 4045),

Nov. 13, 1936 – Provided for certain controls in the landlord-tenant

relationships

 National Rice and Corn Corporation (NARIC), 1936 – Established the price of

rice and corn thereby help the poor tenants as well as consumers.

 Commonwealth Act. No. 461, 1937 – Specified reasons for the dismissal of

tenants and only with the approval of the Tenancy Division of the Department

of Justice.

 Rural Program Administration, created March 2, 1939 – Provided the purchase

and lease of haciendas and their sale and lease to the tenants.

Commonwealth Act No. 441 enacted on June 3, 1939 – Created the National

Settlement Administration with a capital stock of P20,000,000.

Japanese Occupation

“The Era of Hukbalahap”

The Second World War II started in Europe in 1939 and in the Pacific in 1941.

Hukbalahap controlled whole areas of Central Luzon; landlords who supported the

Japanese lost their lands to peasants while those who supported the Huks earned

fixed rentals in favor of the tenants.

Unfortunately, the end of war also signaled the end of gains acquired by the

peasants.

Upon the arrival of the Japanese in the Philippines in 1942, peasants and workers

organizations grew strength. Many peasants took up arms and identified themselves

with the anti-Japanese group, the HUKBALAHAP (Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon).

Philippine Republic

“The New Republic”

After the establishment of the Philippine Independence in 1946, the problems of

land tenure remained. These became worst in certain areas. Thus the Congress of

the Philippines revised the tenancy law.

President Manuel A. Roxas (1946-1948) enacted the following laws:

 Republic Act No. 34 -- Established the 70-30 sharing arrangements and

regulating share-tenancy contracts.

 Republic Act No. 55 -- Provided for a more effective safeguard against

arbitrary ejectment of tenants.

Elpidio R. Quirino (1948-1953) enacted the following law:

Executive Order No. 355 issued on October 23, 1950 -- Replaced the National Land

Settlement Administration with Land Settlement Development Corporation

(LASEDECO) which takes over the responsibilities of the Agricultural Machinery

Equipment Corporation and the Rice and Corn Production Administration.

Ramon Magsaysay (1953-1957) enacted the following laws:

 Republic Act No. 1160 of 1954 -- Abolished the LASEDECO and established the

National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) to resettle

dissidents and landless farmers. It was particularly aimed at rebel returnees

providing home lots and farmlands in Palawan and Mindanao.

 Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954) -- governed the

relationship between landowners and tenant farmers by organizing share-

tenancy and leasehold system. The law provided the security of tenure of

tenants. It also created the Court of Agrarian Relations.

 Republic Act No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of 1955) -- Created the Land Tenure

Administration (LTA) which was responsible for the acquisition and distribution

of large tenanted rice and corn lands over 200 hectares for individuals and

600 hectares for corporations.

 Republic Act No. 821 (Creation of Agricultural Credit Cooperative Financing

Administration) -- Provided small farmers and share tenants loans with low

interest rates of six to eight percent.

President Carlos P. Garcia (1957-1961)

Continued the program of President Ramon Magsaysay. No new legislation passed.

President Diosdado P. Macapagal (1961-1965) enacted the following law:

Republic Act No. 3844 of August 8, 1963 (Agricultural Land Reform Code) --

Abolished share tenancy, institutionalized leasehold, set retention limit at 75 hectares,

invested rights of preemption and redemption for tenant farmers, provided for an

administrative machinery for implementation, institutionalized a judicial system of

agrarian cases, incorporated extension, marketing and supervised credit system of

services of farmer beneficiaries.

The RA was hailed as one that would emancipate Filipino farmers from the bondage

of tenancy.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos (1965-1986)

Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, 1972 ushered the Period of the New

Society. Five days after the proclamation of Martial Law, the entire country was

proclaimed a land reform area and simultaneously the Agrarian Reform Program

was decreed.

President Marcos enacted the following laws:

 Republic Act No. 6389, (Code of Agrarian Reform) and RA No. 6390 of 1971 --

Created the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Agrarian Reform

Special Account Fund. It strengthen the position of farmers and expanded

the scope of agrarian reform.

 Presidential Decree No. 2, September 26, 1972 -- Declared the country under

land reform program. It enjoined all agencies and offices of the government

to extend full cooperation and assistance to the DAR. It also activated the

Agrarian Reform Coordinating Council.

 Presidential Decree No. 27, October 21, 1972 -- Restricted land reform scope

to tenanted rice and corn lands and set the retention limit at 7 hectares.

President Corazon C. Aquino (1986-1992)

The Constitution ratified by the Filipino people during the administration of President

Corazon C. Aquino provides under Section 21 under Article II that “The State shall

promote comprehensive rural development and agrarian reform.”

On June 10, 1988, former President Corazon C. Aquino signed into law Republic Act

No. 6657 or otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL).

The law became effective on June 15, 1988.

Subsequently, four Presidential issuances were released in July 1987 after 48

nationwide consultations before the actual law was enacted.

President Corazon C. Aquino enacted the following laws:

 Executive Order No. 228, July 16, 1987 – Declared full ownership to qualified

farmer-beneficiaries covered by PD 27. It also determined the value

remaining unvalued rice and corn lands subject of PD 27 and provided for

the manner of payment by the FBs and mode of compensation to

landowners.

 Executive Order No. 229, July 22, 1987 – Provided mechanism for the

implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

 Proclamation No. 131, July 22, 1987 – Instituted the CARP as a major program

of the government. It provided for a special fund known as the Agrarian

Reform Fund (ARF), with an initial amount of Php50 billion to cover the

estimated cost of the program from 1987-1992.

 Executive Order No. 129-A, July 26, 1987 – streamlined and expanded the

power and operations of the DAR.

 Republic Act No. 6657, June 10, 1988 (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law) –

An act which became effective June 15, 1988 and instituted a

comprehensive agrarian reform program to promote social justice and

industrialization providing the mechanism for its implementation and for other

purposes. This law is still the one being implemented at present.

 Executive Order No. 405, June 14, 1990 – Vested in the Land Bank of the

Philippines the responsibility to determine land valuation and compensation

for all lands covered by CARP.

 Executive Order No. 407, June 14, 1990 – Accelerated the acquisition and

distribution of agricultural lands, pasture lands, fishponds, agro-forestry lands

and other lands of the public domain suitable for agriculture.

President Fidel V. Ramos (1992-1998)

When President Fidel V. Ramos formally took over in 1992, his administration came

face to face with publics who have lost confidence in the agrarian reform program.

His administration committed to the vision “Fairer, faster and more meaningful

implementation of the Agrarian Reform Program.

President Fidel V. Ramos enacted the following laws:

 Republic Act No. 7881, 1995 – Amended certain provisions of RA 6657 and

exempted fishponds and prawns from the coverage of CARP.

 Republic Act No. 7905, 1995 – Strengthened the implementation of the CARP.

 Executive Order No. 363, 1997 – Limits the type of lands that may be

converted by setting conditions under which limits the type of lands that may

be converted by setting conditions under which specific categories of

agricultural land are either absolutely non-negotiable for conversion or highly

restricted for conversion.

 Republic Act No. 8435, 1997 (Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act

AFMA) – Plugged the legal loopholes in land use conversion.

 Republic Act 8532, 1998 (Agrarian Reform Fund Bill) – Provided an additional

Php50 billion for CARP and extended its implementation for another 10 years.

President Joseph E. Estrada (1998-2000)

“ERAP PARA SA MAHIRAP’. This was the battle cry that endeared President Joseph

Estrada and made him very popular during the 1998 presidential election.

President Joseph E. Estrada initiated the enactment of the following law:

Executive Order N0. 151, September 1999 (Farmer’s Trust Fund) – Allowed the

voluntary consolidation of small farm operation into medium and large scale

integrated enterprise that can access long-term capital.

During his administration, President Estrada launched the Magkabalikat Para sa

Kaunlarang Agraryo or MAGKASAKA. The DAR forged into joint ventures with private

investors into agrarian sector to make FBs competitive.

However, the Estrada Administration was short lived. The masses who put him into

office demanded for his ouster.

President Gloria Macapacal-Arroyo (2000-2010)

The agrarian reform program under the Arroyo administration is anchored on the

vision “To make the countryside economically viable for the Filipino family by

building partnership and promoting social equity and new economic opportunities

towards lasting peace and sustainable rural development.”

Land Tenure Improvement - DAR will remain vigorous in implementing land

acquisition and distribution component of CARP. The DAR will improve land tenure

system through land distribution and leasehold.

Provision of Support Services - CARP not only involves the distribution of lands but

also included package of support services which includes: credit assistance,

extension services, irrigation facilities, roads and bridges, marketing facilities and

training and technical support programs.

Infrastrucre Projects - DAR will transform the agrarian reform communities (ARCs), an

area focused and integrated delivery of support services, into rural economic zones

that will help in the creation of job opportunities in the countryside.

KALAHI ARZone - The KALAHI Agrarian Reform (KAR) Zones were also launched.

These zones consists of one or more municipalities with concentration of ARC

population to achieve greater agro-productivity.

Agrarian Justice - To help clear the backlog of agrarian cases, DAR will hire more

paralegal officers to support undermanned adjudicatory boards and introduce

quota system to compel adjudicators to work faster on agrarian reform cases. DAR

will respect the rights of both farmers and landowners.

President Benigno Aquino III (2010-2016)

President Benigno Aquino III vowed during his 2012 State of the Nation Address that

he would complete before the end of his term the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform

Program (CARP), the centerpiece program of the administration of his mother,

President Corazon Aquino.

The younger Aquino distributed their family-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac. Apart

from the said farm lots, he also promised to complete the distribution of privately-

owned lands of productive agricultural estates in the country that have escaped

the coverage of the program.

Under his administration, the Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and

Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) project was created to contribute to the

overall goal of rural poverty reduction especially in agrarian reform areas.

Agrarian Production Credit Program (APCP) provided credit support for crop

production to newly organized and existing agrarian reform beneficiaries’

organizations (ARBOs) and farmers’ organizations not qualified to avail themselves of

loans under the regular credit windows of banks.

The legal case monitoring system (LCMS), a web-based legal system for recording

and monitoring various kinds of agrarian cases at the provincial, regional and

central offices of the DAR to ensure faster resolution and close monitoring of

agrarian-related cases, was also launched.

Aside from these initiatives, Aquino also enacted Executive Order No. 26, Series of

2011, to mandate the Department of Agriculture-Department of Environment and

Natural Resources-Department of Agrarian Reform Convergence Initiative to

develop a National Greening Program in cooperation with other government

agencies.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (2016 – present)

Under his leadership, the President wants to pursue an “aggressive” land reform

program that would help alleviate the life of poor Filipino farmers by prioritizing the

provision of support services alongside land distribution.

The President directed the DAR to launch the 2nd phase of agrarian reform where

landless farmers would be awarded with undistributed lands under the

Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Duterte plans to place almost all public lands, including military reserves, under

agrarian reform.

The President also placed 400 hectares of agricultural lands in Boracay under CARP.

Under his administration the DAR created an anti-corruption task force to investigate

and handle reports on alleged anomalous activities by officials and employees of

the department.

The Department also pursues an “Oplan Zero Backlog” in the resolution of cases in

relation to agrarian justice delivery of the agrarian reform program to fast-track the

implementation of CARP.

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