AGRARIAN REFORM

What does reform imply?

It implies the existence of a

defect that something is deformed or malformed and does not suit existing conditions.

What does land reform mean?

It refers to the full range of

measures that may or should be taken to improve or remedy that defects in the relations among men with respect to their rights in land.

What does agrarian reform mean?

The term comprises not only land

reform (i.e., the reform of tenure, production, and supporting services structures) but also the reform and development of complementary institutional framework such as the administrative agencies of the national government, rural, educational and social welfare institutions and

What is agrarian structure mean? It is defined as a complex set of

relationships within the agricultural sector among tenure structure, production structure, and the structure of supporting services

What is land tenure structure? It refers to one or more types

of land tenure systems regulating the rights to ownership and control and usage of land and the duties accompanying such rights.

Examples of land tenure reform measures

Redistribution of private lands

(through expropriation or purchase); Distribution of lands in the public domain, sometimes referred to as resettlement or colonization;

 Regulation of tenancy (e.g. provision of

penalties for wrongful eviction of tenants, prohibition of subletting by tenants) Regulation of agricultural labor contracts and wages Elimination of absentee landlordism and transfer of land ownership to the actual tillers.

What does production structure mean?

It is a concept which relates to

the nature, type and modus operandi as well as the actual process of production or farm operation.

COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM

 PROCLAMATION # 131 instituting a

Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) EXECUTIVE ORDER # 229 providing the mechanisms needed initially to implement the program. (signed July 22, 1987 and it took effect on August 7, 1987)

 R.A.

No. 6657 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), signed by the President on June 10, 1988 and it took effect June 15, 1988.

Key objectives of the Program 1. EQUITY

It establishes equity by democratizing control over the countrys lands to a large section of the population and enabling them to directly participate in nation building.

 2. Capability

It builds the capability of farmer-beneficiaries to managed reformed lands productively by giving them the support services they need.

 3. Sustainability

It promotes sustainability by incorporating the ecosystem and stakeholder approaches to land use management

Key terms
Agriculture, agricultural enterprise or

agricultural activities means the cultivation of the soil, planting of crops, growing of fruit trees, including the harvesting of such farm products, and other farm activities and practices performed by a farmer in conjunction with such farming operations done by persons, whether natural or juridical.

 Agricultural land refers to land

devoted to agricultural activity and not classified as mineral, forest, residential, commercial or industrial land.

 Agrarian dispute refers to any controversy

relating to tenurial arrangements , whether leasehold tenancy, stewardship or otherwise, over lands devoted to agriculture, including disputes concerning farmworkers associations or representation of persons negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of such tenurial arrangements.

 Idle or abandoned land refers to any

agricultural land not cultivated, tilled or develop to produced any crop nor devoted to any specific economic purpose continuously for a period of three years immediately prior to the receipt of notice of acquisition by the government.

 Farmer refers to natural person whose

primary livelihood is cultivation of land or the production of agricultural crops, either by himself or primarily with the assistance of his immediate farm household, whether the land is owned by him or by another person under a leasehold or share tenancy agreement or arrangement with the owner thereof.

 Farmworker is a natural person who

renders service for value as an employee or laborer in an agricultural enterprise of farm regardless of whether his compensation is paid on a daily, weekly, monthly or pakyaw basis.

 Regular

farmworker is a natural person who is employed on a permanent basis by an agricultural enterprise or farm.

 Seasonal farmworker is a natural

person who is employed on a recurrent , periodic or intermittent basis by an agricultural enterprise or farm, whether as a permanent or a non-permanent laborer, such as dumaan, sacada, and the like.

 Cooperatives refer to organizations

composed primarily of small agricultural producers, farmers, farmworkers, or other agrarian reform beneficiaries who voluntarily organize themselves for the purpose of pooling land, human technological, financial or other economic resources.

COVERAGE
In general the CARL of 1988 covers, regardless of tenurial

arrangement and commodity produced, all public and private agricultural lands including other lands of the public domain suitable to agriculture.

 In particular the following

lands are covered by the CARP: 1. all alienable and disposable lands of the public domain devoted to or suitable for agriculture;

 2. all lands of the public domain

(including forest or mineral lands reclassified to agricultural after the approval of the Act) in the excess of the specific limits as determine by congress taking into account ecological development and equity considerations.

 3.

all other lands owned by the government devoted to or suitable for agriculture; 4. all private lands devoted to or suitable for agriculture regardless of the agricultural products raised or that can be raised thereon. Prawn farms and fishponds are not covered.

Retention limits
General rule the size of any public or

private agricultural land which a person may own or retain directly or indirectly shall vary according to factors governing a viable family-sized farm, such as commodity produced, terrain, infrastructure, and soil fertility as determined by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC).

 In no case, retention by

however, shall the landowner exceed five (5) hectares. Three hectares may be awarded to each child of the landowner, subject to the following qualifications:

 That he is at least fifteen years

of age; That he is actually tilling the land or directly managing the farm.

Exceptions:

Landowners whose lands

have been covered by PD No. 27 shall be allowed to keep the area originally retained by them thereunder;

 Original homestead grantees

or their direct compulsory heirs who still own the original homestead at the time of the approval of the law shall retain the same areas as long as they continue to cultivate said homestead.

Governing rules on exercise by landowner of retention rights

The landowner has the right to

choose the area to be retained by him which shall be compact and contiguous, and which shall be least prejudicial to the entire landholding and the majority of the farmers therein;

 The landowner shall exercise

the right to retain by signifying his intention to retain within sixty (60) days from receipt of notice of coverage. Failure to do so within the period shall constitute a waiver of the right to retain any area;

 Upon

manifestation of the landowners intention to retain, he shall indicate the exact location thereof within 30 days from manifestation date. Failure to do so shall authorize the Municipal Agrarian reform Officer (MARO) to choose said retention;

 The

landowner has the obligation to cultivate the land directly or thru labor administration and thereby make the area he retains productive;

 The sale, disposition, lease

or transfer of private lands by the original landowners in violation of RA 6657 shall be null and void.

 Transactions executed prior to

RA 6657 shall be valid only when registered with the Register of Deed within the period of three months after 15 June 1988 in accordance with section 6 of RA 6657.

Valid transactions

Those

executed by the original landowner in favor of a qualified beneficiary from among those certified by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR);

 Those in favor of the government,

DAR or the Land Bank of the Philippines; Those executed by the beneficiaries covering lands acquired under any agrarian reform law in favor of the government;

Invalid transactions
Sale

disposition, lease management contract or transfer of possession of private lands executed by the original landowner prior to June 15, 1988 which are not registered on or before September 13, 1988,

 Or

executed after June 15,1988, covering an area in excess of the 5-hectare retention limit in violation of CARL;

 Those executed in favor of a person or persons not qualified to acquire land under CARL;