Agrarian Reform in the

Philippines
• The Philippine Agrarian Problem:
• 1. Two important dimensions:
• land & the people; agricultural & social;
• productivity & human rights;
• 2. A basic problem of society
• 3. Basically a question of land distribution
• & utilization
 The Agrarian Problem
• 3. Basically, a question of land distribution &
utilization
• The right to own property, universal but limited
• Land is necessary for all human beings &
everybody has the right to use land for his
survival
• The right to use is given to all individuals but the
matter to be used is limited & the number of
users unlimited
Historico-Political Survey of the
Agrarian Problems
• 1. Pre-Spanish land situation
• a. Land patterns:
• 1. tribal hunters & gatherers
• 2. shifting cultivators
• 3. those with sedentary culture
• 4. Muslims
• b. Social classes
 Spanish Period Land Situation
• 2. Land tenancy under Spain:
• a. Encomienda system
• b. Rise of the cacique class
• c. Early rebellions
• d. Conflicts over land tenureship
• e. Friar lands
• f. Philippine revolution
 Land Tenure Situation Under
the American Regime
• a. Actual increase in tenancy rate
• b. Purchase of friar lands
• c. Homesteading
• d. Peasant rebellions &
• opposition
• e. Rice Share Tenancy Act
• ( Act No. 4050)
• f. Sugar Cane Tenancy contracts
• Act (Act No. 4113)
 Commonwealth Period
• a. Commonwealth Act No. 103 – created the
Court of Industrial Relations
• b. Commonwealth Act no. 213 – regulated
legitimate labor organizations
• c. Commonwealth Acts.178,461,& 608- gave
more protection to tenants.
• Orderly settlement of virgin
• agricultural lands begun by
• the National Land Settlement Administration
Effects of Japanese Occupation
• The Japanese occupation of the
Philippines from 1941 to 1945 had a
tremendous impact on the agrarian issue
• From the ranks of the peasant & labor
organizations & from the merger of the
Communist Party of the Philippines &
Socialist Party rose the Hukbong
Magpapalaya sa Bayan
• ( HUKBALAHAP)
 Post War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform
• a. Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954 ( Ra No.
1199
• b. Land Reform Act of 1955 (Ra No. 1400)
• c. Land resettlement as a solution
• d. The Agricultural Land Reform Code of 1963
( RA No. 3844)
• e. Amendments to the Agricultural
• Land Reform Code ( R.A. 6389)
• f. Agrarian Reform Special Fund
• Act ( RA 6369)
 Under Martial Law & 1973
Constitution
• 1. Presidential Decree No. 2- declaring the
entire Philippines as land reform area
• 2. Presidential Decree No. 27 –
“emancipating the tenant-farmers from the
bondage of the soil”
 Under the 1987
Constitution
• 1. President Aquino signed Proclamation No. 131
instituting a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
(Carp) & EO No. 229 providing for the mechanisms
• 2. She issued EO No. 129-A :Department
• of Agrarian Reform
• The primary governing law on agrarian reform at
present is Republic Act 6657, the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law of 1988

•
Imperatives of Agrarian Reform
• 1. Land reform would increase production
• 2. It would provide for the capital needed
to industrialize
• 3. Land reform is the answer to the
communist challenge
• 4. It would correct the present imbalance
in our society
• 5. It would make democracy truly
meaningful to our people
 Objections to Agrarian Reform
• 1. Fragmentation of farm-holdings
• 2. Small farms uneconomic
• 3. Small landholdings included
• 4. Agrarian reform failed in the past
 Components of Agrarian
Reform
• 1. Land distribution – most effective way
of providing security of tenure to tillers of
the soil
• 2. Companion measures: Credit & modern
& better methods of production
• Creation & development of new social
institutions to assist the farmers
 The Code of Agrarian Reforms
(RA No. 3844 as amended)
• Beneficiaries under the Code:
• 1. Tenanted farmers
• 2. Agricultural wage earners or farm
workers
• 3. Settlers including migrant workers
• 4. Owner-cultivators of less than family
sized farms
 The Code of Agrarian Reform
Code
• Lands covered by the Code:
• 1. Tenanted areas
• 2. Landed estates
• 3. Old settlements
• 4. Proposed settlements
 The Tenants Emancipation
Decree (PD No. 27)
• Under this decree there is no more leasehold in
tenanted rice & corn lands , the tiller becomes
automatically the amortizing owner of the land
• Beneficiaries are the bona fide tenant-farmers of
private agricultural lands primarily devoted to
rice & corn under the lease tenancy system
• Every family should own an economic family-
sized farm
• Retention limit- 7 hectares
 Bill of Rights for Agricultural
Labor
• 1. Right to self-organization
• 2. Right to engage in concerted activities like strike,
picketing, boycott
• 3. Right to minimum wage
• 4. Right to work for not more than 8 hours
• 5. Right to claim damages for death or injuries sustained
while at work
• 6. Right to compensation for
• personal injuries, death or
• illness
• 7. Right against suspension,
• dismissal or lay-off