AGRARIAN REFORM POLICIES

• CARP- Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or Republic Act no. 6657

• DAR- Department of Agrarian Reform
- is a leading agency of agrarian reform that undertakes improvement and development of
program beneficiaries.

LAND REFORM
- In the Philippines it is a process of redistributing land from the landlords to tenant-farmers in
order that they will be given a chance to own a piece of land to improve their plight.
AGRARIAN REFORM
- Is defined as the rectification of the whole system of agriculture
- Is concerned with the relation between production and distribution of land among farmers.
- Processing of raw materials that are produced by farming that land from the respective
industries.

HISTORY OF AGRARIAN REFORM

- It is a 100-year history of unfinished reforms after the colonizers invaded the country
- Before the Hispanic period, there were no owner-cultivators only communal lands
- During the Spaniard they implemented:
▪ Encomienda- royal land grants
▪ Maura Decree- 1 year for title
▪ Unrecognized of local customs
▪ Establishments of pueblos
▪ Mortgage (pagsasangla)
▪ Inquilinos (friar’s tax)
- During the American’s they implemented:
1. Philippine Bill 1902- set the ceiling on the hectares of private land and corporations
2. Land Registrations of 1902- private owners through torrens systems
- Torrens system- must be registered (title and certificate of ownership)
3. Public land 1903- introduced the homestead system in the Philippines
-Homestead system in the phillippines- maaaring mag may ari ng lupa ang mga taong
gustong magtayo ng negosyo (pagtatanim or pagbubukid) (16 hectares)
4. Cadastal Act- survey of land
5. Friars Land 1904- lease and sale

- 1935 Constitution and Quezon’s Plan established:

1. Rice share tenancy Act of 1936- 50-50 percent tenant-landlord relationship
2. Regulation of 10% interest
3. No dismissal of landlords
4. Contract for 1 year only

- Japanese Occupation in the Philippines

1. HUKBALAHAP (Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon) controlled the whole central Luzon
2. Peasants earned a fixed rental of land
3. Peasants armed themselves and were against the Japanese

- Manuel A. Roxas policy land reform

1. Tenant Act- 70:30 percent to landlord-tenants and regulated shared tenancy

- Diosdado Macapagal policies on land rerforms:

1. Agricultural Land reform code- distribution of private lands to farmers on easy term of
payment
2. Retention limit of 75 hectares
3. Exemption rule of big companies, transfer of landlordism

- President Corazon C. Aquino

▪ Article II, section 21 of the 1987 constitutions provides that “The state shall promote
comprehensive rural development & agrarian reform”
▪ With this, President Aquino signed that following:
1. EO No. 22, July 16, 1987, which declared full land ownership to qualified farmer-
beneficiaries covered by the PD 27.
2. EO No. 229, July 22, 1987, provided the mechanism for the implementation of the
Comprehensive Agrarian reform Program (CARP)
- Comprehensive Agrarian Reform or RA 6657
▪ is the redistribution of public and private agricultural lands to farmers and farmworkers
who are landless, irrespective of tenurial arrangement.
▪ CARP Vision- to have an equitable land ownership with empowered agrarian reform
beneficiaries who can effectively manage their economic and social development to have
a better quality of life.
▪ Principles of agrarian reform
o To promote social justice
o To move the nation toward sound rural development and industrialization
o To establish owner-cultivator ship of economic sized farms as basis of Philippine
agriculture.
▪ Major Program of CARP “Land tenure improvement”- The department offers Support
Services to the beneficiaries such as Infrastructure facilities, marketing assistance
program, credit assistance and technical support program
▪ Coverage of CARP
o All alienable and disposable lands of the public domain devoted to or suitable for
agriculture
o All lands of the public domain in excess of the specific limits as determined by the
congress
o All other lands owned by the governments devoted to or suitable for agriculture
o All public lands devoted to or suitable for agriculture regardless of the agricultural
products raised or can be raised.
▪ Retention limits
o Five hectares for land owners
o Three hectares to be awarded to each child of the landowner subject to the
following qualification:
- Be Landless
- At least 15 years old and above
- Actually, tilling the soil or directly managing the farm and willing to contribute
for the economic growth

- Republic Act No. 6657, June 10, 1988

AN ACT INSTITUTING A COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM TO PROMOTE
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND INDUSTRIALIZATION, PROVIDING THE MECHANISM FOR ITS
IMPLEMENTATION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

- Republic act 9700

- CARP Extension reform law WAS SIGNED ON August 7, 2009 to extend the implementation of
the CARP which ended upon the expiration of R.A 6657 or the CARL on 2008.

- CARPER or Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with reform, is the

amendatory law that extends yet again the deadline of distributing agricultural lands to farmers
for at least five years.
- WHO ARE THE BENEFICIARIES OF CARP?
▪ Agricultural lessees and share tenants
▪ Regular farm workers
▪ Seasonal farm workers
▪ Other farm workers
▪ Actual tillers or occupants of public lands
▪ Collectives or cooperatives
▪ Other directly working on the land

- WHAT ARE THE GOVERNMENT OFFICES INVOLVED IN THE PROGRAM?

▪ Department of Environmental and Natural Resources
They are in charge of the identification and distribution of covered land, and is
commonly referred to as CARPable land.

- HOW MUCH LAND IS SUBJECT TO LAND REFORM?

▪ 7.8 million hectares (that’s 78 x 10^9 sq. meters!)
▪ * 1 hectare = 10k sq. m

- HOW MUCH LAND HAS BEEN ACQUIRED AND DISTRIBUTED SO FAR?

▪ As of December 31, 2013, the government has acquired and distributed 6.9 million
hectares of land, equivalent to 88% of the total land subject to CARP.
- HOW MUCH LAND WAS DISTRIBUTED TO BENEFICIARIES UNDER THIS ADMINISTRATION?
▪ From July 2010 to December 2013, the administration has distributed a total of 751,514
hectares, or 45 % of the total landholdings to be distributed to the farmer beneficiaries
left under this administration.
▪ DAR- distributed 412,782 hectares, DENR- distributed 338,732 hectares.
- HOW MUCH LAND DOES THE GOVERNMENT STILL NEED TO ACQUIRE FOR DISTRIBUTION
FROM 2014 TO 2016?
▪ DAR still needs to acquire 771,795 hectares, while the DENR still needs to acquire
134,857 hectares- a total of 906,652 hectares.
- HOW WILL THE GOVERNMENT ACQUIRE THE LANDHOLDINGS?
▪ There are different modes of acquiring and distributing public and private agricultural
lands. For private lands under compulsory acquisition, the DAR will issue Notices of
Coverage to the original owners of the landholdings. Notices of Coverage will be issued
to most of the landholdings by June 30, 2014.
- WHAT IS A NOTICE OF COVERAGE?
▪ Notice of Coverage (NOC) is a letter informing a landowner that his/her land is covered
by CARP, and is subject to acquisition and distribution to beneficiaries. It likewise
informs the landowner of his/her right under the law, including the right to retain 5
hectares.
- WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED IN THE COURSE OF ACQUIRING AND
DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE LANDS?
▪ In some cases, technical descriptions in the land titles were found to be erroneous and
had to be corrected. Some titles were destroyed, and therefore, had to be reissued by
undergoing a court process, similar to filling a case.
▪ Potential beneficiaries argued among themselves on who should or should not be
qualified as beneficiaries; these disputes had to be mediated or resolved by the
government. In other cases, landowners may petition that their lands be exempted or
excluded from CARP coverage, and some of these petitions have gone up to the
Supreme Court.