Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of
retention rights under Presidential Decree No. 27 be
1998
Lands Covered by the Agrarian Reform Law:
a. Private lands with a total area of five (5) hectares and
below;
b. Lands actually, directly, and exclusively used for
parks, wildlife, forest reserves, reforestation, fish
sanctuaries and breeding grounds, watersheds and
mangroves;
c. Private actually, directly, and exclusively used for
prawn farms and fishponds;
d. Lands actually, directly, and exclusively used and
founds necessary for:
i. Natural defense;
ii. School sites and campuses;
iii. Experimental farm stations operated for
educational purposes
iv. Seeds and seedling research and pilot
production center;
v. Church sites and convents appurtenant thereto;
vi. Mosque sites and Islamic centers appurtenant
thereto;
vii. Communal burial grounds and cemeteries;
viii. Penal colonies and penal farms actually worked
by the inmates;
ix. Research and quarantine centers; and
x. All lands with eighteen percent (18%) slope and
over, except those already developed.
Retention right of the landowner
Under Section 6 of the CAR Law, the landowner has
the right to retain not more than 5 hectares of his
landholdings The retained area need not be personally
cultivated by the landowner – cultivation can be done
indirectly through labor administration.
Can a landowner who has already exercised his
entitled to the retention right under the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law?
If the landowner has already exercised his right of
retention under Presidential Decree 27, he can no longer
exercise the retention right under Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Law.
However, if the landowner chooses to retain 5
hectares under Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, the 7
hectares previously retained by him under Presidential
Decree 27 shall be immediately placed under the coverage of
the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
Can spouse retain 5 hectares under the agrarian
reform law?
It depends:
a. If the property regime is conjugal or absolute
community – the spouses can retain only 5
hectares.
b. If the property regime is separation of property –
the spouses can retain 5 hectares each (a total of
10 hectares).
Who has the right to choose the retention area?
The landowner has the right to choose the area to be
retained. The chose area should be compact or contiguous.
As long as the area to be retained is compact or contiguous,
and it does not exceed the retention ceiling of 5 hectares,
the landowner’s choice of the area to be retained must
prevail.
The landowner should exercise his right of retention
with 60 days from receipt of the Notice of Coverage. If the
landowner does not exercise his right of retention within the
specified period, the Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer
(MARO) will designate the retained area for the landowner.

What is the term of lease?

The agricultural leasehold once established continues

until such leasehold relation is extinguished through any of
the ff. means:

a. Abandonment or voluntary surrender of the

landholding by the lessee; or
b. Absence of successor (i.e., surviving spouse, eldest
direct descendant by consanguinity, or next eldest
descendant or descendant in the order of their ages)
in the event of death or permanent incapacity of the
lessee.

Likewise, the agricultural leasehold is not terminated or

extinguished by the mere expiration of the term or period
in a leasehold contract. Neither is it terminated by the
transfer of ownership or legal possession of the
landholding. If the agricultural lessor transfers the
ownership or legal possession of the landholding, the
transferee becomes the agricultural lessor.