COURSE OUTLINE FOR AGRARIAN REFORM LAW

AND SOCIAL LEGISLATION

Atty. Michael Frederik D. Alzona

This course is designed to provide law students with insights into the core
concepts of social justice and how the same is implemented in social
justice legislation governing agrarian reform, indigenous people’s rights and
urban poor housing and development. The focus on the course will be on
agrarian reform with discussions on the historical background and key
ideas underpinning this important social justice legislation. The student will
also be given some perspectives on the agrarian reform dispute resolution
mechanisms, whether administrative or judicial.

Part One – Overview of the Course on Agrarian Law

1. Historical and Legal Backdrop
a. Encomienda system of plantations in the Philippines
b. Phil. Bill of 1902
c. Emancipating tenants from the bondage of the soil
d. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
e. Expiration of CARL

Part Two – Legislative Backdrop

1. RA 6657 – Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program enacted on

June 10, 1988
2. Sec. 2 of RA 6657, as amended by RA 9700 – Declaration of
Principles and Policies

Part Three – Land Acquisition

1. Agrarian Reform Defined – Sec. 3(a), RA 6657
2. Scope of the Program – Sec. 4, RA 6657
3. Priorities of Coverage – Sec. 7, RA 6657
4. Land Acquisition: Compulsory Acquisition – Sec. 16, RA 6657
5. Land Acquisition: Voluntary Offer to Sell – Sec. 19, RA 6657
Cases:
1. Association of Small Landowners in the Phils. v. Sec. of Agrarian
Reform, GR. No. 79310 , July 14, 1989
2. Roxas v. CA, GR No. 127876, Dec. 17, 1999

Part Four – Retention, Exemption and Exclusions

a. Retention defined
b. Purpose of retention right of the owner
c. Rationale for the grant of right of retention
d. Retained area defined
e. Policies
f. Maximum area of retention
Pages 48-63 of Agrarian Reform Law: Bastion of Socila Justice

Cases:
1. Milestone Farms, Inc., v. Office of the President, G.R. No. 182332.
February 23, 2011
2. Luz Farms v. Sec. of Agrarian Reform, GR No. 86889, December
4, 1990
3. DAR v. Sutton, G.R. No. 162070. October 19, 2005

Cases:
1. Central Mindanao University v. DARAB, G.R. No.
100091. October 22, 1992
2. DAR v. DECS, G.R. No. 158228. March 23, 2004
3. Province of Camarines Sur v. CA, G.R. No. 103125 May 17, 1993
4. Roxas & Company, Inc. v. DAMBA-NFSW, G.R. No. 149548.
December 4, 2009

Part Five – Land Valuation

1. Determination of Just Compensation – Sec. 17, RA 6657
2. Just compensation defined
3. What constitutes compensable taking
4. Taking of property under CARL an exercise of power of eminent
domain and not police power of the State
5. Eminent domain defined
6. Principal role of DARAB and the Adjudicators
7. Preliminary proceedings of land valuation

Cases:
1. Just Compensation as discussed in Association of Small
Landowners in the Philippines v. Secretary of Agrarian Reform, GR. No.
78742, July 14, 1989
2. Land Bank of the Phils. v. Natividad, G.R. No. 127198. May 16,
2005
3. Land Bank of the Phils. vs. CA, GR No. 118712, Oct. 6, 1995
4. Lubrica v. Land Bank of the Phils., G.R. No. 170220. November
20, 2006
5.
Part Six – Land Redistribution
1. Land Redistribution per Secs. 22 to 27 of RA 6657, as amended
2. Principle of affordability to the farmers
Case: Land Bank of the Phils. v. Palmares, G.R. No. 192890, June 17,
2013
3. Indefeasibility of Titles
Case: Estribillo v. DAR, G.R. No. 159674. June 30, 2006

Part Seven- Land Tenure Improvement

1. Determination of Lease Rentals – Sec. 12, RA 6657
2. Leasehold Relationship
Cases:
1. Caballes v. DAR, GR No. 78214, December 5, 1988
2. Gabriel v. Pangilinan, G.R. No. L-27797. August 26, 1974
3. Gelos v. CA, G.R. No. 86186. May 8, 1992
Issuance: AO 2, S. 2006 – Revised Rules and Procedures Governing
Leasehold Implementation in Tenanted Agricultural Lands
3. Production-Sharing – Sec 32, RA 6657
4. Agribusiness Venture Arrangements (AVAs) in Agrarian Reform
Areas per DAR AO 09-06

Part Eight – Conversion of Agricultural Lands

1. Conversion of Lands – Sec 65, RA 6657
2. Conversion of Agricultural Lands: Difference among Exemption,
Conversion and Reclassification
Cases:
1. CREBA v. Secretary of Agrarian Reform, G.R. No. 183409. June
18, 2010
2. Ros v. DAR, G.R. No. 132477. August 31, 2005
3. Land Reclassification – Sec. 20 of RA 7160 or the Local
Government Code of 1991
Case: Fortich v. Corona, GR. No. 131457, April 24, 1998 – Decision,
Opinion and Resolution of the Motion for Reconsideration with the Decision
of the Office of the President (OP) on the Sumilao Case

Part Nine – Mechanisms for Program Implementation

1. Presidential Agrarian Reform Council – Secs. 41, 42, 43, 49, RA
6657
2. Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating Committee – Secs. 44
and 45, RA 6657
3. Barangay Agrarian Reform Committee – Secs. 46 to 48, RA 6657
4. Department of Agrarian Reform – EO 129-A dated July 26, 1987
5. Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB) –
Sec. 13, EO 129-A

Part Ten – Quasi –Judicial powers of the DAR

1. Quasi-judicial power defined
2. Specific powers of the DAR under the CARL
3. DARAB cases
4. Page 263-284 of the Agrarian Reform Law: Bastion of Social
Justice

Cases:
1. Land Bank of the Phils. v. CA, GR No. 128557, December 29,
1999
2. Land Bank of the Phils. v. Celada, G.R. No. 164876. January 23,
2006
3. Land Bank of the Phils. v. Heirs of Eleuterio Cruz, G.R. No.
175175, September 29, 2008
4. Land Bank of the Phils. v. Martinez, G.R. No. 169008. August 14,
2007
5. Phil. Veterans Bank v. CA, GR No. 132767, January 18, 2000
6. Modes of Appeal/Review from the DARAB
7. Rule 43 of the Rules of Court (1997 Rules of Civil Procedure)
8. Certiorari – Sec. 54 of RA 6657 and Rule 65 of the Rules of Court

Part Twelve – Jurisdiction on Agrarian Disputes

1. Jurisprudence on Jurisdiction over Agrarian Cases

Cases:
1. DAR v. Paramount Holdings Equities, Inc., G.R. No. 176838, June
13, 2013
2. Del Monte Phils. Inc. Employees Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries
Cooperative (DEARBC) v. Sangunay, G.R. No. 180013, January 31,
2011

SOCIAL LEGISLATION*

1. RA 10361 Batas Kasambahay

2. RA 9710 Magna Carta of Women
3. RA 9272 Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act of
2004
4. RA 9208 Anti-Human Trafficking
5. RA 8972 Solo Parents’ Welfare Act of 2000
6. RA 8371 IPRA
7. RA 8187 Paternity Leave Act of 1996
8. RA 7877 Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995
9. RA 7610 Anti-Child Abuse Law
10. RA 7432 Expanded senior Citizen’s Act of 2010
11. RA 7277 PWD

*cases to be assigned during the course