Social, Political, Economic

and Cultural Issues in the

Philippines
Learning Objectives
• To analyze social, political, economic and cultural issues in the
Philippines using the lens of history.
• To recognize that the problems of today are consequences of
decisions and events that happened in the past.
• To understand several enduring issues in Philippine society through
history.
• To propose recommendations or solutions to present-day problems
based on the understanding of the past and anticipation of the future
through the study of history.
Evolution of the Philippine Constitution
• The constitution is defined as a set of fundamental principles or
established precedents according to which a state or other organization is
governed, thus, the word itself means to be a part of a whole, the coming
together of distinct entities into one group, with the same principles and
ideals. These principles define the nature and extent of government.
• The constitution of the Philippines, the supreme law of the Republic of
the Philippines, has been in effect since 1987. There were only three
other constitutions that have effectively governed the country: the 1935
Commonwealth Constitution, the 1973 Constitution and the 1986
Freedom constitution. However, there were earlier constitutions
attempted by Filipinos in the struggle to break free from colonial yoke.
1897: Biak na Bato
Constitution
1897: Constitution of Biak-na-Bato
• The constitution of Biak-na-bato was the provisionary constitution of the
Philippine Republic during the Philippine Revolution and was promulgated by
the Philippine Revolutionary Government on 1 November 1897. The
constitution borrowed from Cuba was written by Isabelo Artacho and Felix
Ferrer in Spanish and later on translated into Tagalog.
• The organs of the government under the Constitution were: (1) the Supreme
Council which was vested with the power of the Republic headed by the
president and four department secretaries: the interior, foreign affairs,
treasury and war (2) the Consejo Supremo de Gracia Y Justicia which was given
the authority to make decisions and affirm or disprove the sentences rendered
by other courts and to dictate rules for the administration of justice (3) the
Asemblea de Representantes which was to be convened after the revolution to
create a new constitution and to elect a new council of Government and
Representatives of the people.
• The constitution of Biak-na-Bato was never fully implemented since a
truce the Pact of Biak-na-Bato was signed between the Spanish and
the Philippine Revolutionary army.
Primary Source: Preamble of the Biak-na-Bato Constitution
• The separation of the Philippines from the Spanish monarchy and
their formation into an independent state with its own government
called the Philippine Republic has been the end sought by the
revolution in the existing war begun on the 24th of August 1896 and
therefore in its name and by the power delegated by the Filipino
people interpreting faithfully their desires and ambitions, we the
representatives of the Revolution, in a meeting at Biak-na-Bato,
November 1 1897 unanimously adopted the following articles for the
constitution of the state.
1899: Malolos Constitution
1899: Malolos Constitution
• After the signing of the truce, the Filipino revolutionary leaders
accepted a payment from Spain and went to exile in Hong Kong. Upon
the defeat of the Spanish to the Americans in the Battle of Manila Bay
on 1 May 1898, the US Navy transported Aguinaldo back to the
Philippines. The newly reformed Philippine revolutionary forces
reverted to the control of Aguinaldo, the Philippine Declaration of
Independence was issued on 12 June 1898, together with several
decrees that formed the First Philippine Republic. The Malolos
Congress was elected which selected a commission to draw up a draft
constitution on 17 September 1898, which was composed of wealthy
and educated men.
• The document they came up with, approved by the Congress on 29
November 1898 and promulgated by Aguinaldo on 21 January 1899,
was titled “The Political Constitution of 1899” and written in Spanish.
The constitution has 39 articles divided into 14 titles, with eight
articles of transitory provisions and a final additional article. The
document was patterned after the Spanish constitution of 1812 with
influences from the charters of Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua,
Costa Rica and Guatemala and the French Constitution of 1793.
According to Felipe Calderon, main author of the constitution, these
countries were studied because they shared similar social, political,
ethnological and governance conditions with the Philippines.
• Prior constitutional projects in the Philippines also influenced the
Malolos constitution namely the Kartilya and the Sanggunian
Hukuman, the charter laws and morals of the Katipunan written by
Emilio Jacinto in 1896; the Biak-na-Bato Constitution of 1897 planned
by Isabel Artacho; Mabini’s Constitutional Program of the Philippine
Republic of 1898; the provisional constitution of Mariano Ponce in
1898 that followed the Spanish constitutions and the autonomy
projects of Paterno in 1898.
• Primary Source: Preamble of the Political Constitution of 1899
• We, the Representatives of the Filipino people, lawfully convened, in
order to establish justice, provide for common defense, imploring the
aid of the Sovereign Legislator of the Universe for the attainment of
these ends, have voted, decreed and sanctioned the following
political constitution.
• As a direct challenge to colonial authorities of the Spanish empire, the
sovereignty was retroverted to the people, a legal principle underlying
the Philippine revolution. The people delegated governmental
functions to civil servants while they retained actual sovereignty. The
27 articles of Title IV detail the natural rights and popular sovereignty
of Filipinos, the enumeration of which does not imply the prohibition
of any other rights not expressly stated.
• Title III, Article V also declares that the State recognizes the freedom
and equality of all beliefs as well as the separation of Church and
State. These are direct reaction to features of the Spanish government
in the Philippines, where the friars were dominant agents of the state.
• The form of government, according to Title II, Article 4 is to be
popular, representative, alternative, responsible and shall exercise
three distinct powers-legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative
power was vested in a unicameral body called the Assembly of
Representatives, members of which are elected for terms of four
years. Secretaries of the government were given seats in the
assembly, which meet annually for a period of at least three months.
• Bills could be introduced either by the president or by a member of the
assembly. Some powers not legislative in nature were also given to the
body, such as the right of impeaching the president, cabinet members, the
chief justice of the Supreme Court and the solicitor general. AS permanent
commission of seven, elected by the assembly and granted specific powers
by the constitution was to sit during the intervals between sessions of the
assembly.
• Executive power was vested in the president and elected by a constituent
assembly of the Assembly of Representatives an special representatives.
The president will serve a term of four years without re-election. There was
no vice president and in case of a vacancy, a president was to be selected by
the constituent assembly.
1935: The Commonwealth
Constitution
• It is worth mentioning that after the Treaty of Paris, the Philippines was
subject to the power of the US, effectively the new colonizers of the
country. From 1898 to 1901, the Philippines would be placed under a
military government until a civil government would be put into place.
• Two acts of the US congress were passed that may be considered to
have qualities of constitutionality. First was the Philippine Organic Act
of 1902, the first organic law for the Philippine islands that provided for
the creation of a popularly elected Philippine Assembly. The act
specified that legislative power would be vested in a bicameral
legislature composed of Philippine Commission as the upper house and
the Philippine Assembly as lower house.
• Key provisions of the act included a bill of rights for Filipinos and the
appointment of two non-voting Filipino resident House of
Representatives. The second act that functioned as a constitution was
the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916, commonly referred to as “Jones
Law,” which modified the structure of the Philippine government
through the removal of the Philippine Commission, replacing it with a
Senate that served as the upper house and its members elected by
the Filipino voters, the first truly elected national legislature. It was
also this Act that explicitly declared the purpose of the US to end their
sovereignty over the Philippines and recognize Philippine
independence as soon as a stable government can be established.
• In 1932, with the efforts of the Filipino independence mission led by
Sergio Osmena and Manuel Roxas, the US Congress passed the Hare-
Hawes Cutting Act with the promise of granting Filipinos’
independence. The bill was opposed by then Senate President Manuel
L. Quezon and consequently, rejected by the Philippine Senate.
• By 1934, another law, the Tydings-McDuffie Act, also known as the
Philippine Independence Act, was passed by the US Congress that
provided authority and defined mechanisms for the establishment of a
formal constitution by a constitutional convention. The members of the
convention were elected and held their first meeting on 30 July 1934,
with Claro M. Recto unanimously elected as president.
• The constitution was crafted to meet the approval of the US
government, and to ensure that the US would live up to its promise to
grant independence to the Philippines.
Primary Source: Preamble of the 1935 Commonwealth Constitution
• The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to
establish a government that shall embody their ideals, conserve and
develop the patrimony of the nation, promote the general welfare,
and secure to themselves and their posterity the blessings of
independence under a regime of justice, liberty, and democracy, do
ordain and promulgate this constitution.
• The constitution created the Commonwealth of the Philippines, an
administrative body that governed the Philippines from 1935 to 1946. It is a
transitional administration to prepare the country toward its full achievement
of independence. It originally provided for a unicameral National Assembly with
a president and vice-president elected to a six-year term without re-election. It
was amended in 1940 to have a bicameral congress composed of a Senate and
a House of Representatives, as well as the creation of an independent electoral
commission, and limited the term of office of the president and vice-president
to four years, with one reelection. Rights to suffrage were originally afforded to
male citizens of the Philippines who are twenty-one years of age or over and
are able to read and write; this was later on extended to women within two
years after the adoption of the constitution.
• While the dominant influence in the constitution was American, it
also bear traces of the Malolos Constitution, the German, Spanish,
and Mexican constitutions, constitutions of several South American
countries and the unwritten English constitution.
• The draft of the constitution was approved by the constitutional
convention on 8 February 1935, and ratified by then US President
Franklin B. Roosevelt on 25 March 1935. Elections were held in
September 1935 and Manuel L. Quezon was elected President of the
Commonwealth.
• The Commonwealth was briefly interrupted by the events of the
World War II, with the Japanese occupying the Philippines. Afterward,
upon liberation, the Philippines was declared an independent republic
on 4 July 1946.
1973: Constitutional
Authoritarianism
• In 1965, Ferdinand E. Marcos was elected president, and in 1967, Philippine
Congress passed a resolution calling for a constitutional convention to change the
1935 constitution. Marcos won the re-election in 1969, in aid boosted by
campaign overspending and use of government funds. Elections of the delegates
to the constitutional convention were held on 20 November 1970, and the
convention began formally on 1 June 1971, with former President Carlos P. Garcia
being elected as convention president. Unfortunately, he died, and was succeeded
by another former president, Diosdado Macapagal.
• Before the convention finished its work, Martial Law was declared. Marcos cited a
growing communist insurgency as reason for the Martial Law, which was provided
for in the 1935 Constitution. Some delegates of the ongoing constitutional
convention were placed behind bars and others went into hiding or were
voluntary exiled. With Marcos as dictator, the direction of the convention turned,
with accounts that the president himself dictated some provisions of the
constitution, manipulating the document to be able to hold on to power for as
long as he could. On 29 November 1972, the convention approved its proposed
constitution.
• The constitution was supposed to introduce a parliamentary style
government, where legislative power was vested in a unicameral
National Assembly, with members being elected to a six year term.
The president was to be elected as the symbolic and ceremonial head
of state chosen from the members of the National Assembly. The
president would serve a six-year term and could be re-elected to the
Prime Minister, who was also the head of government and
Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces who was also to be elected
from the National Assembly.
• President Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 73 setting the date
of the plebiscite to ratify or reject the proposed constitution on 30
November 1973. This plebiscite was postponed later on since Marcos
feared that the public might vote to reject the constitution.
• Instead of a plebiscite, citizens assemblies were held, from 10-15 January
1973, where the citizens coming together and voting by hand, decided on
whether to ratify the constitution, suspend the convening of the Interim
National Assembly, continue Martial Law, or place a moratorium on
elections for a period of at least several years. The President, on 17 January
1973, issued a proclamation announcing that the proposed constitution
had been ratified by an overwhelming vote of the members of the highly
irregular Citizen Assemblies.
• The constitution was amended several times. In 1976, Citizen Assemblies,
once again, decided to allow the continuation of Martial Law, as well as
approved the amendments: an interim Batasang Pambansa to substitute
for the Interim National Assembly, the president to also become the Prime
Minister and continue to exercise legislative powers until Martial Law was
lifted and authorized the President to legislate on his own on emergency
basis.
• An overwhelming majority would ratify further amendments succeedingly.
In 1980, the retirement age of members of the judiciary was extended to
70 years. In 1981, the parliamentary system was formally modified to a
French-style, semi-presidential system where executive power was
restored to a French-style, semi-presidential system where executive
power was restored to the president, who was, once again, to be directly
elected; an Executive Committee was to be created, composed of the
Prime Minister and 14 others, that served as the president’s Cabinet; and
some electoral reforms were instituted. In 1984, the Executive Committee
was abolished and the position of the vice president was restored.
• After all the amendments introduced, the 1973 Constitution was merely a
way for the president to keep executive powers, abolish the Senate and by
any means, never acted as a parliamentary system instead functioned as
an authoritarian presidential system, with all the real power concentrated
in the hands of the president, with the backing of the constitution.
• The situation in the 1980s had been very turbulent. As Marcos amassed power,
discontent has also been burgeoning. The tide turned swiftly when in August
1983, Benigno Aquino Jr. opposition leader and regarded as the most credible
alternative to President Marcos, was assassinated while under military escort
immediately after his turn from exile in the US. There was widespread suspicion
that the orders to assassinate Aquino came from the top levels of the
government and the military. This event caused the coming together of the non-
violent opposition against the Marcos authoritarian regime. Marcos was then
forced to hold “snap” elections a year early, and said elections were marred by
widespread fraud. Marcos declared himself winner despite international
condemnation and nationwide protests. A small group of military rebels
attempted to stage a coup, but failed; however tis triggered what came to be
known as the EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986 as people from all walks of
life spilled onto the streets. Under pressure from the US, who used to support
Marcos and his Martial Law, the Marcos family fled into exile. His opponent in
the snap elections, Benigno Aquino Jr., widow, Corazon Aquino was installed as
president on 25 February 1986.
1987: Constitution After
Martial Law
• President Corazon Aquino’s government had three options regarding the
constitution: revert to the 1935 constitution, retain the 1973 constitution and
be granted the power to make reforms, or start anew and break from the
“vestiges of a disgraced dictatorship.” They decided to make a new
constitution that according to the president herself, should be “truly reflective
of the aspirations and ideals of the Filipino people.”
• In March 1986, President Aquino proclaimed a transitional constitution to last
for a year while a Constitutional Commission drafted a permanent
constitution. This transitional constitution, called the Freedom constitution,
maintained many provisions of the old one, including in rewritten form the
presidential right to rule by decree. In 1986, a constitutional convention was
created, composed of 48 members appointed by President Aquino from
varied backgrounds and representations. The convention drew up a
permanent constitution, largely restoring the setup abolished by Marcos in
1972, but with new ways to keep the president in check, a reaction to the
experience of Marcos’s rule. The new constitution was officially adopted on 2
February 1987.
• The constitution begins with a preamble and eighteen self-contained
articles. It established the Philippines as a “democratic republican state”
where “sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority
emanates from them.” It allocates governmental powers among the
executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government.
• The Executive Branch is headed by the president and his cabinet, whom
he appoints. The president is the head of the state and the chief executive,
but his power is limited by significant checks from the two other co-equal
branches of government, especially during times of emergency. This is put
in place to safeguard the country from the experience of martial law
despotism during the presidency of Marcos. In case of national
emergency, the president may still declare martial law, but no longer than
a period of sixty days. Congress, through the majority vote, can revoke this
decision, or extend it for a period that they determine. The Supreme Court
may also review the declaration of martial law and decide if there were
sufficient justifying facts for the act. The president and the vice president
are elected at large by a direct vote, serving a single six-year term.
• The legislative power resides in a Congress divided into two houses:
the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 24 senators are
elected at large by popular vote and can serve no more than two
consecutive six-year terms. The House is composed of district
representatives representing a particular geographic area and makes
up around 80% of the total number of representatives. There are 234
legislative districts in the Philippines that elect their representatives
to serve three-year terms. The 1987 constitution created a party-list
system to provide spaces for the participation of under-represented
community sectors or groups. Party-list representatives may fill up not
more than 20% of the seats in the House.
• Aside from the exclusive power of legislation, Congress may also
declare war, through a two-thirds vote in both upper and lower
houses. The power of legislation, however, is also subject to an
executive check, as the president retains the power to veto or stop a
bill from becoming a law. Congress may only override this power with
a two-thirds vote in both houses.
• The Philippine Court system is vested with the power of the judiciary,
and is composed of a supreme court and lower courts as created by
law. The Supreme Court is a 15 member court appointed by the
president without the need to be confirmed by Congress. The
appointment the president makes. However, is limited to a list of
nominees provided by a constitutionally specified Judicial and Bar
Council.
• The Supreme Court Justices may hear on appeal, any cases dealing
with the constitutionality of any law, treaty or decree of the
government, cases where questions of jurisdiction or judicial error are
concerned, or cases where the penalty is sufficiently grave. It may also
exercise original jurisdiction over cases involving government or
international officials. The Supreme Court is also in charge of
overseeing the functioning and administration of the lower courts and
their personnel.
• The constitution also established three independent Constitutional
Commissions, namely the Civil Service Commission, a central agency
in charge of government personnel; the Commission on Elections,
mandated to enforce and administer all election laws and regulations
and the Commission on Audit, which examines all funds, transactions
and property accounts of the government and its agencies.
• To further promote the ethical and lawful conduct of the government,
the Office of the Ombudsman was created to investigate complaints
that pertain to public corruption, unlawful behavior of public officials
and other public misconduct. The Ombudsman can charge public
officials before the Sandiganbayan, a special court created for this
purpose.
• Only the House of Representatives can initiate the impeachment of
the president, members of the Supreme Court and other
constitutionally protected public officials such as the Ombudsman.
The Senate will then try the impeachment case. This is another
safeguard to promote moral and ethical conduct in the government.
Policies on Agrarian Reform
• Agrarian reform is essentially the rectification of the whole system of
agriculture, an important aspect of the Philippine economy because
nearly half of the population is employed in the agricultural sector, and
most citizens live in rural areas. Agrarian reform is centered on the
relationship between production and the distribution of land among
farmers. It is also focused on the political and economic class character
of the relations of production and distribution in farming and related
enterprises, and how these connect to the wider class structure.
Through genuine and comprehensive agrarian reform, the Philippines
would be able to gain more from its agricultural potential and uplift the
Filipinos in the agricultural sector, who have been for the longest time
suffering in poverty and discontent.
Landownership in the Philippines Under
Spain
• When the Spaniards colonized the country, they brought with them a system
of pueblo agriculture, when rural communities, often dispersed and scattered
in nature, were organized into a pueblo and given land to cultivate.
• Families were not allowed to own their land-the King of Spain owned the
land and Filipinos were assigned to these lands to cultivate them and they
paid their colonial tributes to the Spanish authorities in the form of
agricultural products.
• Later on, through the Law of Indies, the Spanish crown awarded tracts of
land to (1) religious orders (2) repartamientos for Spanish military as reward
for their service (3) Spanish encomenderos, those mandated to manage the
encomienda or the lands given to them, where Filipinos worked and paid for
tributes to the encomendero.
• Filipinos were not given the right to own land and only worked in them
so that they might have a share of the crops and pay tribute. The
encomienda system was an unfair and abusive system as “compras y
vandalas” became the norm for the Filipino farmers working the land-
they were made to sell their products at a very low price or surrender
their products to the encomenderos who resold this at a profit. Filipinos
in the encomienda were also required to render services to their
encomenderos that were unrelated to farming.
• From the encomienda system, the hacienda system developed in the
beginning of the 19th century as the Spanish government implemented
policies that would fast track the entry of the colony into the capitalist
world. The economy was tied to the world market as the Philippines
became an exporter of raw materials and importer of goods.
• Agricultural exports were demanded and the hacienda system was
developed as a new form of ownership. In the 1860’s, Spain enacted a
law ordering landholders to register their landholdings, and only those
who knew benefitted from this. Lands were claimed and registered in
other people’s names, and many peasant families who were “assigned”
to the land in the earlier days of colonization were driven out or forced
to come under the power of these people who claimed rights to the
land because they held a title.
• This is the primary reason why revolts in the Philippines were often
agrarian in nature. Before the colonization, Filipinos had communal
ownership of land. The system introduced by the Spaniards became a
bitter source of hatred and discontent for the Filipinos. Religious orders,
the biggest landowners in the Philippines, also ecame a main source of
abuse and exploitation for the Filipinos, increasing the rent paid by the
Filipinos on a whim.
• Filipinos fought the Philippine revolution in a confluence of
motivations, but the greatest desire for freedom would be the
necessity of owning land. Upon the end of the Philippine revolution,
the revolutionary government would declare all large landed states,
especially the confiscated friar lands as government property.
However, the first Philippine republic was short-lived. The entrance of
the Americans would signal a new era of colonialism and imperialism
in the Philippines.
Landownership in the Philippines under the
Americans
• The Americans were aware that the main cause of social unrest in the
Philippines was landlessness, and they attempted to put an end to the
deplorable conditions of the tenant farmers by passing several land
policies to increase the small landholders and distribute ownership to a
bigger number of Filipino tenants and farmers. The Philippine Bill of
1902 provided regulations on the disposal of public lands. A private
individual may own 16 hectares of land while corporate landholders may
have 1,024 hectares. Americans were also given rights to own
agricultural lands in the country. The Philippine Commission also
enacted Act No. 496 or the Land Registration Act, which introduced the
Torrens system to address the absence of earlier records of issued land
titles and conduct accurate land surveys.
• In 1903, the Homestead Program was introduced, allowing a tenant to
enter into an agricultural business by acquiring a farm of at least 16
hectares. This program, however, was limited to areas in Northern
Luzon and Mindanao, where colonial penetration had been difficult
for Americans, a problem they inherited from the Spaniards.
• Landownership did not improve during the American period; in fact, it
even worsened because there was no limit to the size of landholdings
people could possess and the accessibility of possession was limited to
those who could afford to buy, register and acquire fixed property
titles. Not all friar lands acquired by the Americans were given to
landless peasant farmers. Some lands were sold or leased to American
and Filipino business interest. This early land reform program was also
implemented without support mechanisms-if a landless peasant
farmer received land, he only received land, nothing more.
• Many were forced to return to tenancy and wealthy Filipino hacienderos
purchased or forcefully took over lands from farmers who could not afford to
pay their debts. The system introduced by the Americans enabled more
lands to be placed under tenancy, which led to widespread peasant
uprisings, such as the Colorum and Sakdal Uprising in Luzon. Peasants and
workers found refuge from millenarian movements that gave them hope
that change sould still happen through militancy.
• During the years of the Commonwealth government, the situation further
worsened as peasant uprisings increased and landlord-tenant relationship
became more and more disparate. President Quezon laid down a social
justice program focused on the purchase of haciendas, which were to be
divided and sold to tenants.
• His administration also created the National Rice and Corn
Corporation (NARIC) to assign public defenders to assist peasants in
court battles for their rights to the land, and the Court of Industrial
Relations to exercise jurisdiction over disagreements arising from
landowner-tenant relationship. The Homestead Program also
continued through the National Land Settlement Administration
(NLSA). Efforts toward agrarian reform by the Commonwealth failed
because of many problems such as budget allocation for the
settlement program and widespread peasant uprisings. World War II
put a halt to all interventions to solve these problems as the Japanese
occupied the country.
Post-War Interventions toward Agrarian
Reform
• Rehabilitation and rebuilding after the war were focused on providing
solutions to the problems of the past. The administration of President Roxas
passed Republic Act No. 34 to establish a 70-30 sharing arrangement between
tenant and landlord, respectively, which reduced the interest of landowners’
loans to tenants at six percent or less. The government also attempted to
redistribute hacienda lands. Falling prey to the woes of similar attempts since
no support was given to small farmers who were given lands.
• Under the term of President Elpidio Quirino, the Land Settlement
Development Corporation (LASEDECO) was established to accelerate and
expand the resettlement program of peasants. This agency later on became
the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) under
the administration of President Ramon Magsaysay.
• Magsaysay saw the importance of pursuing genuine land reform program
and convinced the Congress, majority of which were landed elites, to pass
legislation to improve the land reform situation. Republic Act No. 1199 or
the Agricultural Tenancy Act was passed to govern the relationship
between landholders and tenant farmers, protecting the tenurial rights of
tenants and enforced tenancy practices. Through this law, the Court of
Agricultural Relations was created in 1955 to improve tenancy security, fix
land rentals of tenanted farms, and resolve land disputes filed by the
landowners and peasant organizations. The Agricultural Tenancy
Commission was also established to administer problems created by
tenancy. The Agricultural Credit and Cooperative Financing Administration
(ACCFA) was also created mainly to provide warehouse facilities and assist
farmers in marketing their products. The administration spearheaded the
establishment of the Agricultural and Industrial Bank to provide easier
terms in applying for homestead and other farmlands.
• NARRA accelerated the governments resettlement program and
distribution of agricultural lands to landless tenants and farmers. It
also aimed to convince members of the Huks, a movement of rebels
in Central Luzon, to resettle in areas where they could restart their
lives as peaceful citizens.
• Despite a more vigorous effort toward agrarian reform, the situation
for the farmers remained dire since the government lacked funds and
provided inadequate support services for the programs. The landed
elite did not fully cooperate and they criticized the programs.
• A major stride in land reform arrived during the term of president
Diosdado Macapagal through the Agricultural Land Reform Code
(Republic Act No. 3844)
• This code abolished share tenancy in the Philippines and prescribed a
program to convert tenant-farmers to lessees and later on owner-
cultivators. It also aimed to free tenants from tenancy and emphasize
owner-cultivatorship and farmer independence, equity, productivity
improvement, and public land distribution. Despite being one of the
most comprehensive pieces of land reform legislation ever passed in
the Philippines, Congress did not make any effort to come up with a
separate bill to fund its implementation, despite the fact that it
proved beneficial in the provinces where it was pilot tested.
Agrarian Reform Efforts under Marcos
• President Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972, enabling him to essentially
wipe out the landlord-dominated congress. Through his “technocrats”, he was
able to expand executive power to start a “fundamental restructuring” of
government, including its efforts in solving the deep structural problems of
the countryside. Presidential Decree No.27 or the Cod of Agrarian Reform of
the Philippines became the core of agrarian reform during Marcos regime.
• Operation Land Transfer on lands occupied by tenants of more than seven
hectares on rice and corn lands commenced, and through legal compulsion
and an improved delivery of support services to small farmers, agrarian
reform seemed to be finally achievable. Under the rice self-sufficiency
program “Masagana 99” farmers were able to borrow from banks and
purchase three-hectare plots of lands and agricultural inputs.
Post-1986 Agrarian Reform
• The overthrow of Marcos and the 1987 Constitution resulted in a renewed
interest and attention to agrarian reform as President Corazon Aquino envisioned
agrarian reform to be the centerpiece of her administration’s social legislation,
which proved difficult because her background betrayed her-she came from a
family of wealthy and landed clan that owned the Hacienda Luisita.
• In 1988, the Congress passed Republic Act No. 6657 or the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) which introduced the program with the same name
(Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or CARP). It enabled the redistribution
of agricultural lands to tenant-farmers from landowners, who were paid in
exchange by the government through just compensation and allowed them to
retain not more than five hectares. Corporate landowners were, however,
allowed under law to voluntarily divest a proportion of their capital stock, equity
or participation in favor of their workers or other qualified beneficiaries instead
of turning over their land to the government.
• CARP was limited because it accomplished very little during the
administration of Aquino. It only accomplished 22.5% of land distribution in
six years owing to the fact that Congress, dominated by the landed elite, was
unwillingly to fund the high compensation costs of the program. It was also
mired in controversy, since Aquino seemingly bowed down to the pressure
of her relatives by allowing the stock redistribution option. Hacienda Luisita
reorganized itself into a corporation and distributed stocks to farmers.
• Under the term of President Ramos, CARP implementation was speeded in
order to meet the ten-year time frame, despite limitations and constraints in
funding, logistics and participation of involved sectors. By 1996, the
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) distributed only 58.25% f the total
area target to be covered by the program. To address the lacking funding
and the dwindling time for the implementation of CARP, Ramos signed
Republic Act No. 8532 in 1998 to amend CARL and extend the program to
another ten years.
CARPER and the Future of Agrarian Reform
in the Philippines
• The new deadline of CARP expired in 2008, leaving 1.2 million farmer
beneficiaries and 1.6 million hectares of agricultural land to be
distributed to farmers. In 2009, President Arroyo sined Republic Act
No. 9700 or Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with
Reforms (CARPER) the amendatory law that extend the deadline to
five more years. Section 30 of the law mandates that any case and/or
proceeding involving the implementation of the provisions of CARP, as
amended which may retain pending on 30 June 2014 shall be allowed
to proceed to its finally and executed even beyond such date.
• The DAR and the DENR are the government agencies mandated to
fulfill CARP and CARPER.