AGRARIAN REFORM UNDER THE PRESIDENCY OF FERDINAND MARCOS SR.

By: Abdul Hakim Mauti

 Presidential Decree 27, the agrarian reform law signed by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos on

October 21, 1972.

 Previous studies on the subject were critical of its outcomes but failed to include Marcos'

agrarian reform program's advances.

 Marcos approved Presidential Decree 2 a month earlier, eliminating farming and

sharecroppers or tenancy in rice and maize lands throughout the country, and Presidential

Decree 27 expanded tenurial relations further by introducing the concept of land

ownership to peasants.

 The initiative also provided technical and financial assistance to assure productivity and

the program's viability.

 Furthermore, the program required peasants to form cooperatives in order to wean them

off of their reliance on landowners.

 Despite the program's beneficial intent and design, it faced obstacles by additional rules

and directives that contradicted its aims and objectives.

 Finally, the exclusion of coconut and sugar farms from agrarian reform exposed the

inequality between these farmers and those in rice and maize areas, a dramatic contrast

that became a rallying point against the Marcos dictatorship as well as an advocacy in the

aftermath.

 The Marcos era, which aimed for more comprehensive agrarian reform coverage.
 Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, 1972 ushered the Period of the New Society.

Five days after the proclamation of Martial Law, the entire country was proclaimed a land

reform area and simultaneously the Agrarian Reform Program was decreed.

President Marcos enacted the following laws:

 Republic Act No. 6389, (Code of Agrarian Reform) and RA No. 6390 of 1971 -

President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. created the Department of Agrarian Reform and the

Agrarian Reform Special Account Fund. It strengthens the position of farmers and

expanded the scope of agrarian reform.

 Presidential Decree No. 2, September 26, 1972 - President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

declared the country under land reform program. It enjoined all agencies and offices

of the government to extend full cooperation and assistance to the DAR. It also activated

the Agrarian Reform Coordinating Council.

 Presidential Decree No. 27, October 21, 1972 - President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

restricted land reform scope to tenanted rice and corn lands and set the retention limit

at 7 hectares by mar and gave it to qualified tenants of the landowner. However, many

landowners were not paid because of martial law

Contradictions in the Marcos Agrarian Reform Program

 Not even two years after Presidential Decree 27, General Order (GO) 47 and

Presidential Decree 472 were signed, severely undermining land acquisition and tenure.

GO 47 requires all firms with more than 500 employees to meet their employees' rice

and corn needs through importation or direct production.

 On the other side, PD 472 mandated all logging suppliers and livestock lessors to

create rice and corn producing zones for their employees. Concerned parties were

offered cash packages, credit from Land Bank and other commercial institutions, and the

postponement of ownership requirements. With this, Marcos established what was to be

known as “corporate farming”.

 While the reason for corporate farming may be primarily about food self-sufficiency,

this approach accidentally denied potential agrarian reform recipient’s cultivatable

land.

 By 1978, over 250 firms engaged in rice production occupied 58,450 hectares of land.

Other multinational corporations (MNCs) such as Caltex, Shell, Del Monte, Dole, and

others expanded production into soybeans, sorghum, and mung beans, and by 1981,

the land occupied by MNCs had reached 86,000 hectares. This made the average size of a

corporate farm reach up to 402 hectares. For example, banana plantations expansion

rapidly rose from only 3,400 has. in 1969 to 19,600 has. in 1983. MNCs did not buy

or own lands, they just leased them or had joint ventures with government

corporations.