AGRARIAN REFORM IN

THE PHILIPPINES
Agrarian Land
Reform Reform Reform
 PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD
Balangay
government

Kaingin system

Everyone had access

to the fruits of the soil
Money was
unknown

Communal ownership
Spanish Period
(1521-1896)
Encomienda Compras y
System
Problems Abusive
encomienderos vandalas
 • Land
Registration

1865 Law • Spanish officials,

inquilinos,
caciques vs
peasant families

• Mortgage law of
Ley 1893
• Systematic
Hipotecaria registration of
titles and deeds

•Royal decree of
1894
•Farmers and
Maura Law landholders were
given one year to
register agricultural
lands
 We may need
doctors and lawyers
once in our lives, but
we need farmers
three times a day.
 American Period (1898-1935)

Philippine Bill of Homestead

Torrens System
1902 Program of 1903
• provided • The Land • This program
regulations on the Registration Act of allowed an
disposal of public 1902 or Act. No. enterprising
lands wherein a 496: placed all tenant to acquire
private individual private and public a farm of at least
can own 16 lands under 16 hectares to
hectares of land Torrens system cultivate
while the • The Cadastral Act
corporate land or Act. No. 2259:
holdings can avail speeds up the
of 1, 024 hectares. issuance of Torrens
titles
 Friar Land Act
or Act. No.
1120 & 141 s
1936

Other
agrarian
laws
Sugarcane
Rice Share
Tenancy
Tenancy Act
Contracts Act
of 1933 or Act.
of 1933 or Act
No. 4054
No. 4113
 COMMONWEALTH PERIOD
• Commonwealth Act. No. 461 (1937 )
• Specified reasons for the dismissal of tenants and only with
the approval of the Tenancy Division of the Department of
Justice.
• Rural Program Administration (March 2, 1939)
• Provided the purchase and lease of haciendas and their
sale and lease to the tenants.
J
A
Japanese
P and Rich
A Landlords
N
E
S
E HUKBALAHAP

P
E
R
Retrieval of
I lands by the
O landlords
D
Comparative Analysis:

Spaniards

Japanese Americans
 Manuel
Manuel Elpidio
Manuel
Manuel Roxas
Roxas
Quezon
Quezon Quirino
(1946-1948)
(1946-1948)
(1935-1944)
(1935-1944) (1948-1953)

Carlos P. Ramon
RA 4054 or the Rice Garcia Magsaysay
Tenancy Law
(1957-1961) (1953-1957)
Problem: this law was
hardly implemented
because most of the
municipal councils were
composed of powerful
hacienderos and big
landlords.
 Manuel Elpidio
Manuel
Manuel Roxas
Roxas
Quezon Quirino
(1946-1948)
(1946-1948)
(1935-1944) (1948-1953)

Carlos P. Ramon
Garcia
Republic Act No. 34
Magsaysay
(1957-1961)
Problem: due to lack of (1953-1957)
support facilities, these
farmers were forced to
resell their lands to the
landowning class. This
failure gave basis to
doubt the real meaning
of land reform program.
 Manuel Elpidio
Manuel Roxas
Quezon Quirino
(1946-1948)
(1935-1944) (1948-1953)
Executive Order
No. 355
Problem: due to
Carlos P.
limited post-war Ramon
Garcia
resources, the Magsaysay
program was not
(1957-1961)
successful (1953-1957)
 Manuel Elpidio
Manuel Roxas
Quezon Quirino
R.A. No. 1199 (1954): This law
(1946-1948)
(1935-1944)helped protect the tenurial (1948-1953)
rights of tenant tillers and
enforced fair tenancy
practices.

Carlos P.
R.A. No. 1400 (1955): Land Ramon
Reform Act or known Garcia
as Magsaysay
“Land to the Landless”
(1957-1961)
Program which sought (1953-1957)
improvement in land tenure
and guaranteed the
expropriation of all tenanted
landed estates.
 Manuel Elpidio
Manuel Roxas
Quezon Quirino
(1946-1948)
no legislation
(1935-1944) (1948-1953)
passed

Carlos P. Ramon
Garcia Magsaysay
(1957-1961) (1953-1957)
 Diosdado
Macapagal

Joseph Ferdinand
Estrada Marcos
Agricultural Land Reform
Code or RA No. 3844

lessees owner-
cultivators

Fidel Ramos Corazon

Aquino
Problem: The landed Congress did not provide effort to come
up with a separate bill to provide funding for its implementation.
 Presidential Decree No. 27
Diosdado
Macapagal
The law stipulated that share tenants who worked
from a landholding of over 7 hectares could purchase
the land they tilled, while share tenants on land less
than 7 hectares would become leaseholders.

Joseph Ferdinand
Estrada Marcos
Land
Human
Tenure
Resources
Program

Agricultural Institutional
Development Development Corazon
Fidel Ramos
Aquino

Physical
Development
 Support
Delivery of
Land tenure services and
agrarian
improvement productivity
justice.
improvement

Joseph Ferdinand
Estrada Marcos
RA 6657 or Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law

Proclamation 131

Fidel Ramos Corazon

Aquino