Espacio, Christy Maximarie M.

August 28, 2020

Republic Act 6657 also known as Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988
took effect on June 15, 1988. The essence of Agrarian Reform is the redistribution of
lands. Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) being the lead agency implementing the
comprehensive agrarian reform program are getting landholdings from landowner that
are landless.
Prior to RA 6657, we have Presidential Decree 27 or the Tenancy Emancipation
Decree of 1972 (a handwritten document signed by President Ferdinand Marcos on
October 21, 1972). Landholdings that can be covered by this PD are only those tenanted
landholdings devoted to rice and corn land. RA 6657 (CARL) expanded the coverage, not
limited to rice and corn but even those agricultural landholdings that are more than the
retention limit of five (5) hectares, can be covered even without tenant.
If a landowner have more than 5 hectares of agricultural landholdings and there is
a tenant, that tenant have the preferential right to become a farmer beneficiary but he has
to apply. CARL limited a maximum of 3 hectares per farmer beneficiary and the rest will
be distributed to other qualified farmer beneficiaries based on Section 22 of RA 6657, but
the landowner will be given retention area not more than 5 hectares of the landholding he
owned.
Also, children of landowner can be beneficiaries of the covered landholdings of
their parents provided there is no tenant in the land that will be provided to them but they
still have to apply to become farmer beneficiaries and there are requirements under the
law for them to be qualified. These children are called “preferred beneficiaries.”
Under RA 6657 (CARL) there are 5 modes of acquiring private agricultural lands.
1. Voluntary Offer to Sell (VOS) – Landowner offered his property to the
government through DAR that he wants to sell his property to be covered by
CARL.
2. Voluntary Land Transfer (VLT) – Direct transfer of landholdings from the
owner to the tenant.
3. Compulsory Acquisition (CA) – Forced getting of agricultural landholdings
against the will of the landowner in the exercise of the state power of eminent
domain. Initiated by the issuance of Notice of Coverage (NOC).
4. Stock Distribution Option (SDO) – This is applicable to commercial farms like
Hacienda Luisita Inc. Instead of distributing the physical land, the farmer
beneficiaries are given stock in short they are stockholders of the tenanted
land.
5. Direct Land Transfer (direct payment scheme) – Is a set up where the
landowner is directly paid by the farmer beneficiary.
Due to the amendment introduced by RA 9700 (Carp Extension with Reform or
CARPER) in 2009, the recognized modes are only VOS and CA.
There are cases decided by the Supreme Court which struck down some provision
of CARL for being unconstitutional. One is the case of Luz Farm versus Secretary of the
Department of Agrarian Reform in 1990 wherein the Supreme Court said that lands
devoted to livestock and poultry are not covered by RA 6657. Those land directly,
exclusively, and actually devoted to raise livestock, poultry, or swine are exempted from
CARP coverage.
 RA 9700 gave deadline as to when the process of the coverage is initiated. The
extension of CARP was only 5 years (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2014). The department can
no longer issue Notices of Coverage of Compulsory Acquisition starting July 1, 2014 up
to this time. Although there are bills trying to extend more the lifespan of issuing Notice
of Coverage, there is still no law extending it. There is no more notice of coverage only
Voluntary Offer to Sell (VOS). The difference of VOS and CA is that, CA is initiated by
issuing the Notice of Coverage whereas VOS is initiated by the letter offer given by the
landowner voluntarily offering his property to DAR for CARP coverage. Those who were
give NOC before June 30, 2014 is still included in the process.
There are exemptions and exclusion from CARP coverage (Section 10, RA 6657),
it contains some of the landholdings which are exempted and excluded from CARP
coverage e.g., church, mosque, cemetery are not to be covered. Also, land under the
administration of DENR, directly and exclusively used as parks, wildlife, forest reserve,
fish sanctuaries are also not covered even those landholdings that are 18% slope and
over unless it is developed as of June 15, 1988 which is the effectivity date of RA 6657.
In addition to Section 10, land used for raising animals are exempted and by virtue of RA
7881 (a later law inducted in 1995), fish ponds and prawn farms are now expressly
exempted from CARP coverage. In RA 6657, ponds are still included but in RA 7881
those are already exempted.
Aside from the land tenure services which include the acquisition and redistribution
of these landholdings, after the issuance of Certificate of Landownership Award (CLOA –
title issued pursuant to RA 6657), or the Emancipation Patent (EP – title pursuant to PD
27), support services then enter which DAR is still the lead agency in providing. Aside
from giving lands, DAR also provide support services, and encouraging the farmer
beneficiaries to be entrepreneurs. There is division of DAR in the provincial office and in
the regional office exclusively to cater trainings, capacity development programs of farmer
beneficiaries to sustain their status as landowners. If they want to have credit access with
the Landbank of the Philippines, DAR is assisting them to avail credit facilities in
Landbank especially now that we have COVID where they were given assistance in the
form of food, for them to lessen their struggles in this time of pandemic.
However, the land that was received by the farmer beneficiary cannot be
conveyed, disposed, sold, or donated within 10 years from the date of its registration.
Also, if it is encumbered with the Landbank it should be fully paid before the farmer
beneficiary can sell or donate it. Exception is in case of hereditary succession. If the
farmer died within the 10 year prohibitory period, the land could still be transferred
pursuant to Article 777 of the Civil Code. Compliance to these two requirements is the
ability to covey the land. Farmer beneficiaries should make the land productive for it is
one of their obligation together with paying the Landbank. Failure to pay for 3 consecutive
annual amortization is a ground for disqualifying the farmer beneficiary and the land will
be redistributed to another farmer beneficiary.
This Agrarian Reform is very important because it grants landless farmers and
farm workers ownership of agricultural land. Aside from transfer of ownership, it also
provides access to support services to ensure that socio-economic improvement of the
program beneficiaries is achieved. It was foresighted that farmers will be more productive
if they cultivate their own land leading to the progress of the agricultural sector that will
eventually affect our economy.