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History and Evolution of Major Agrarian Reform Laws/Issuances/Programs Under The Different Philippine Leadership
History and Evolution of Major Agrarian Reform Laws/Issuances/Programs Under The Different Philippine Leadership
A. MANUEL L. QUEZON (1935-1944)
1935 Constitution
• This is the first law on crop-sharing which legalized the 50-50 share
between landlord and tenant
• It was particularly aimed at the peasant base of the HUK movement (Hukbo
ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon – HUKBALAHAP)
• The first land reform law which regulated all forms and aspects of tenure
relations, except civil lease
• It gave share tenants the right to shift to leasehold where they pay
landowners a fixed rental instead of a variable share
Republic Act No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of 1955) — An Act Defining
a Land Tenure Policy, Providing for An Instrumentality to Carry Out
the Policy, and Appropriating Funds for Its Implementation
• Provided for the acquisition of large tenanted rice and corn lands over 300
hectares if owned by individuals and 600 hectares, if owned by corporations
(i.e., it provided for retention limits of 300 hectares and 600 hectares,
respectively)
4. reduce rental and interest rates in order to provide security for those
who would remain tenants;
• This Code abolished share tenancy and instituted the leasehold system
• This law created the Land Authority headed by a Governor (under the
control and supervision of the President) for its implementation and to carry
out the aforementioned basic objective
• The Code exempted coverage of plantation crops which were deemed too
important as export earners that time
• It provided for tenanted lands devoted to rice and corn to pass in ownership
to the tenants who worked the properties
• It provided for a special fund known as the Agrarian Reform Fund (ARF) in
the amount of 50 Billion Pesos to cover the estimated cost of the program for
the period 1987-1992
• It also specified the composition and functions of the governing entities that
will coordinate and supervise the implementation of the program
• Provided for the strengthening of the DAR as the lead agency responsible
for the implementation of CARP
• Reorganized, streamlined and expanded power and operation of DAR
• Determined the value of remaining unvalued rice and corn land subject to
P.D. No. 27
Executive Order No. 405 (Vesting in the Land Bank of the Philippines
the Primary Responsibility to Determine the Land Valuation and
Compensation for All Lands Covered Under Republic Act No. 6657,
Known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988)
• Vested in the Land Bank of the Philippines the primary responsibility for
land valuation
• This created CARP Implementing Teams from the national to the municipal
levels
Executive Order No. 506 (Further Amending Executive Order No. 407,
Series of 1990, as Amended By Executive Order No. 448, Series of
1991, Accelerating the Acquisition and Distribution of Agricultural
Lands, Pasture Lands, Fishponds, Agro-Forestry Lands and Other Lands
of Public Domain Suitable for Agriculture)
• It declared that except national parks and other protected areas, all lands or
portions of the public domain reserved by virtue of proclamation or law for
specific purposes or uses by departments, bureaus, offices and agencies of the
Government, which are suitable for agriculture and no longer actually,
directly and exclusively used or necessary for the purpose for which they have
been reserved as determined by the Department of Agrarian Reform in
coordination with the government agency or instrumentality concerned in
whose favor the reservation was established, shall be segregated from the
reservation and transferred to the Department of Agrarian Reform for
distribution to qualified beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program.
• It also provided that all existing and proposed National Parks, Game
Refuge and Bird Sanctuaries, Wildlife Reserves, Wilderness Areas and Other
Protected Areas, including old growth or virgin forests, and all forests above
1,000 meters elevation or above 50 percent slope, are hereby excluded from
the present segregation, acquisition and distribution procedures being
conducted by the Department of Agrarian Reform until such time as these
area shall have been identified, studied and determined to be either retained
and reclassified under the National Integrated Protected Areas System of
DENR or to be segregated for agricultural purposes.
H. FIDEL V. RAMOS (1992-1998)
Republic Act No. 7881 (An Act Amending Certain Provisions of Republic Act
No. 6657, Entitled "An Act Instituting a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program to Promote Social Justice and Industrialization, Providing the
Mechanism for Its Implementation, and for Other Purposes")
Republic Act No. 7905 (An Act to Strengthen the Implementation of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, and for Other Purposes)
• It provided for yearly appropriations of not less than P3 billion from the
General Appropriations Act
ARCs (Agrarian Reform Communities)
• The DAR, under the leadership of President Fidel V. Ramos and Secretary
Ernesto D. Garilao, pursued the "development of agrarian reform
communities (ARCs) as its key program for national development."
• In order to optimize the allocation and use of limited resources and create
an impact, the DAR has adopted a geographical focus and realigned its
priorities towards the development of viable ARCs. In these areas, DAR shall
intensify its interventions to increase farm production, improve household
income, and promote sustainable development.