Name: David C.

Cornejo Reading in Philippine History

Course/Yr/Section: BSAC – 1A Ms. Mheralyn F. Silang

Select at least one Act of the Philippines about Agrarian Reform which was also
mentioned on the discussion board. Submit a two page thought paper. Kindly
indicate the references that you will be using.

Republic Act No. 6657 – An act instituting a comprehensive agrarian reform

program to promote social justice and industrialization, providing mechanism for its
implementation, and other purposes.

Republic Act No. 6657, also known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law
of 1998, provide principles and policies that took care of the welfare of the landless
farmers and farm workers and promotes social justice for them. This agrarian reform
program is meant to give the regular and landless farm workers the right to own
directly or collectively the lands they work on, and other farm workers to own a share
from the fruits they cultivate. The State will took care of the fair and just distribution
of all agricultural lands by complying from the priorities and retention limits set by the
said act. The State will also provide incentives to small landowners after volunteering
on land-sharing.
After being introduced in the public three decades ago, the said act has made
some changes throughout the years in which it expanded from rice and corn lands to
all agricultural lands (except military reservations, penal colonies, educational and
research fields, “timberlands”, undeveloped hills with 18 degrees slope and church
areas), the target beneficiaries now include both tenants and farmworkers, and the
retention limits on land ownership of agricultural lands was set at 5 hectares (land
ownership of agriculture lands to 5 hectares and allowed additional 3 hectares for
each heir - of at least age 15 and actually tilling the land or directly managing it). It
also disposes public alienable and disposable lands with the intent to open up
frontier lands while the redistributive program involves the redistribution of property

Address: Governor Feliciano Leviste Road, Lipa City 4217, Batangas, Philippines
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Telephone Numbers: +63 43 757 5277
 or rights on private agricultural lands and the abolition of agricultural (or share)
tenancy.

Overall Insight:
The approval of the Republic Act No. 6657 is very helpful to our famers who
really work hard on their job because this act has allows them to have a share or part
from the land they work on. This gives them social justice to which all their efforts will
be paid-off fairly. There are some land owners who didn’t treat their workers
equitably and now, because of this act, they now have the right to voice out what
they feel and speak for the truth.
Being a farmer is not easy as what others think. They need to work hard under
the sun for almost a whole day and giving them a small amount of money as their
salary really shows no justice at all. Now that we had this Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Law which runs for almost three decades, it is good to know that our farmers
are now receiving proper treatments. Landowners, on the other hand, should abide
this law and give their workers what is being imposed from the act.

Reference:
www.officialgazette.gov.ph
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Address: Governor Feliciano Leviste Road, Lipa City 4217, Batangas, Philippines
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Telephone Numbers: +63 43 757 5277