MODULE 1
“Legislature that is susceptible to the pressure of people power." (Article II)
1.Rule of Law (guide behavior)
“refers to the existence of laws and rules on how society should function so that
there is predictability in the way that things work, particularly in the realm of
political governance”
*Basic premise: that people should obey the law and be ruled by it.
‘government by law and not by men’
2. Access to Justice
“means the ability of ordinary citizens to avail themselves on the instruments of
the law and the institutions of government, that is, the system of justice, in the
pursuit of fairness and what is right in their affairs. (Source: Co, et al., 2010)
Article II, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution
The Philippines is a democratic–Sovereignty resides in the people and all
government authority emanates from them.
A. EXECUTIVE -carries the law [President, Vice President, Cabinet
Local Government]
B. LEGISLATIVE-makes the law [Senate, House of Representatives]
C. JUDICIARY-evaluates the law [Supreme Court, Regional
Metropolitan Trial Courts, Special Courts]
D. CONSTITUTIONAL COMMISSION/OFFICES [CSC (administratively
discipline government personnel), COMELEC,COA, Office of the
Ombudsman (investigate any act or omission by any public official),
Sandiganbayan (special court that has jurisdiction over criminal and
civil cases involving graft and corrupt practices) CHR]
Hierarchy of Laws
1. Constitution 2. Statutes ; 3. Rulings of the Supreme Court or Jurisprudence
4. Rules and Regulations issued by Administrative/ Executive Officers pursuant
to delegated legislative authority ;5. Local Ordinances
Constitution (established separation of powers)
“written instrument by which the fundamental powers of government are
established, limited and defined, and by which these powers are distributed
among several departments, for their more safe and useful exercise, for the
benefit of the body politic.”
Fundamental Purpose: ”grant and limitation of governmental authority”
Checks & Balances
A. Appointment of members of the Judiciary (x Commission on
Appointments)
B. E.g., Veto; Budget Proposal; Enactment of Laws
C. Provision on the Imposition of Martial Law
- President> impose Martial Law > limited on actual threat
to national peace or sovereignty < 60 days; w/in 48 hrs.>
Pres. must submit report to Congress
- Congress can revoke or extend via ⅔ majority voting
- Judiciary - mediate the constitutionality> accommodate
citizen’s right to contest with the declaration.
D. Appointment of Members of the Cabinet and other High-ranking
officials
- Executive > appoint his cabinet and other high ranking
officials> subject to the COA’s approval– most members
are from the Congress;
- confined to the nominees of the Judicial Bar Council
Insulation of Judiciary (Art. VIII)
1. SC– constitutional court–cannot be abolished by law (2) Appointment
by Pres. not subject to the confirmation of COA–shield from
legislators (3) Fixed term, good behavior (4)have security of
tenure, fiscal autonomy (5) SC–administrative supervision over all
courts and the personnel thereof. (6) exclusive power to discipline
judges of lower courts.(7) power to appoint all officials and
employees of the judiciary.
Art II [Declaration of Policies and State Principles]
● Not confer rights nor imposes duties
● Aids in construction; Aims and aspirations of the framers
Art III [Bill of Rights]
● Civil and Political Right; Self-implementing
Art XIII [Social Justice and Human Rights]
● Social and Economic Rights; Require implementing
MODULE 2
Bicameral Legislative System (won by one (1) vote Unicameral a. Agrarian Reform under the 1987 Constitution and CARP/ CARPER
over unicameralism during the ConCon)
(1) Ensures maximum participation of (1) More economical (fewer but more
b. Land Distribution and Compulsory Acquisition under CARP/ CARPER
the masses carefully studied statutes) and its Implications
(2) Ensures thorough assessment and (Comm.Padilla)
deliberation of proposed (2) . ”susceptible to people power” to c. CARP as a stimulus for long-term rural growth and poverty reduction
laws–disjuncts hasty legislation achieve social justice (Fr. Bernas) Politics and Leadership + Socio Cultural Context
(3) Prevents weakening or (3) Direct interaction with the people
authoritarian capture of the (Comm. Gascon) (a) Mandate and rule-making authority of lead agency/ies; (b) Governance
Legislative department –recognition (4) “Interconnectedness” of local lives
of the equality of two houses–not with the natl. and intl. order(Comm. structure and coordination mechanisms; (c) Capacity and resources of key
easily penetrated. Bacani) implementers; (d) Policy and regulatory environment
(4) Future leaders of our country will be
developed and be familiarized to E.g., * Directly elected – better reflect the Systems thinking: seeing the problem as a whole
the people, the Senators being sentiments of the masses and - moves the focus away from events and patterns of behavior (which
elected nation-wide underprivileged
E.g., Balance sugar bloc v. tobacco bloc v. rice and • TV, radio, etc. are symptoms of problems) and toward systemic structure and the
corn interest (Manuel, 88) underlying mental models”
1987 Constitution, Article XIII, Section 4,5, 6,7, 8.
AGRARIAN AND NATURAL RESOURCES REFORM
1973 Constitution
Interim Batasang Pambansa [Marcos– Interim President and Prime Minister] Section 4. The State shall, by law, undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right
of farmers and regular farmworkers who are landless, to own directly or collectively the
Tasks:
a. Call for the elections of the members of the Regular National lands they till or, in the case of other farmworkers, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof.
To this end, the State shall encourage and undertake the just distribution of all agricultural
Assembly lands, subject to such priorities and reasonable retention limits as the Congress may prescribe,
b. Choose and Interim President and Prime Minister taking into account ecological, developmental, or equity considerations, and subject to
c. President should step down the payment of just compensation. In determining retention limits, the State shall respect the
Presidential System right of small landowners. The State shall further provide incentives for voluntary land-sharing.
+ Voters (elect) > Head of Executive (President); Legislative Branch
Parliamentary Section 5. The State shall recognize the right of farmers, farmworkers, and landowners, as
well as cooperatives, and other independent farmers’ organizations to participate in the
+ Voters (elect) > Legislative Branch (elect)> H of Exec.(Prime Minister)
1973 CONST. Article XVII, Sec. 3 (2) planning, organization, and management of the program, and shall provide support to
agriculture through appropriate technology and research, and adequate financial, production,
All proclamations, orders, decrees, instructions, and acts promulgated, issued, or
marketing, and other support services.
done by the incumbent President shall part of the law of the land, and shall
remain valid, legal, binding, and effective even after the lifting of Martial Law xxx.” Three (3) “great [inherent] powers” of government:
1. Police Power– ”the inherent and plenary power in the State, which
5th and 6th Amendments of 1976 enables it to prohibit all that is hurtful to the comfort, safety, and
● 5th Amendment: The incumbent President shall continue to exercise welfare of society”
legislative powers until martial law shall have been lifted. 2. Power of Eminent Domain- This is the power of the state to take
● 6th Amendment: “ xxx in order to meet the exigency, issue the private property for public use upon payment of just compensation
necessary decrees, orders or letters of instructions, which shall form (Bernas, 2011). Just compensation: payment that matches the
part of the law of the land. “market value” (Bernas, 2011).
● “date of taking”? clarified land valuation– The revised
“Your honor, when I was in law school, I learned that the Executive was CARP law provided that all valuation including those
pending in courts are to be completed based on RA6657
the sword, the Legislative is the purse, and the Judiciary is the
3. Power of Taxation
conscience of this nation.” “In a government system founded in separation
(3) Objectives of CARP
of powers, the independence of the judiciary is an essential Element.”
(1) Equity/ Social justice; (2) Improvement of farming efficiency; (3)
(Manuel) –Atty. Christian Monsod,
Poverty reduction (PIDS, 3)
Constitutionalism Scope of CARP
1. Limits imposed on the State (e.g. Bill of Rights)
(a) All alienable and disposable lands of the public domain devoted to or
2. Mechanisms to exact accountability (e.g. Ombudsman;
suitable for agriculture. (b) All lands of the public domain in excess of the specific
Sandiganbayan)
limits as determined by Congress in the preceding paragraph;
Constitutional Deconsecration (Gatmaytan) (c) All other lands owned by the Government devoted to or suitable for
- the processes of removing the sacred character of the Constitution agriculture; and
- Duterte’s actions and public acquiescence (d) All private lands devoted to or suitable for agriculture regardless of the
(1) happens inadvertently and inevitably by resistance to colonization; agricultural products raised or that can be raised thereon.
“Legal transplantation”
*NOTICE OF COVERAGE: A document issued by DAR in order to initiate the
● Spain [Civil law and indigenous legal systems were operating
compulsory acquisition and distribution of private agricultural lands
Personalism/caudillismo*, authoritarianism, top-down centralization,
A comprehensive inventory system in consonance with the national land use plan
and government of men rather than law
shall be instituted by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), in accordance
● US [Seeking to implant a common law system; Constitutionalism
with the Local Government Code, for
under rule of law]
+ Agrarian Justice Delivery: CARL includes in the CARP organization
(2) then deliberately by the refusal of Duterte to follow the Constitution’s
agrarian legal assistance and adjudication of agrarian cases.
strictures.
Big Night + Adjudication of cases involves the resolution of cases by the DAR
innocent people (Dharna) framed by drug mafia; true face of the local political Adjudication Board (DARAB)--alternative dispute resolution
structure, filled with corruption, greed and lack of empathy, services
Contrast between the average citizen and people on power (1) determine and adjudicate agrarian reform matters and shall
young man’s naive belief in justice, addresses ‘watchlist’, or the initiative started have (2) exclusive original jurisdiction over all matters involving
in 2016, encouraging village officials drug suspects; Implications to lives of
the implementation of agrarian reform
individuals– killing when such actions stop being punishable by a law which
sees them as justified. (2) not be bound by technical rules of procedure and evidence
 (3) Responsible farmer leaders shall be allowed to represent
themselves
+ Agrarian Reform Fund (ARF)
+ DAR relied primarily on its provincial and municipal agrarian
reform officials (e.g. MARO, PARO) for land inventory at the local
levels.
+ List includes: landed estates, proclaimed lands, resettlement lands,
and lands foreclosed by government financial institutions (GFI land)
+ NO collated Registry of farmers, agricultural workers and
tenants in the country; however provisions of the CARP has the
qualifications–listing method and validation with landowners.
+ Difficulty in accessing land records even among government
agencies due to decentralized land records (Ballesteros & Cortez
2008).
ISSUES:
1. Land reform evasion
Problem: dummies of the landowner–VLT schemes.
- The DAR audit reports that about 70% of VLT beneficiaries are
relatives, heirs that are non-tillers or have no interest in farming
(DAR PSRC 2000; Borras 2005).
- Of the 1,025, 827 (80.68%) Titles were canceled in favor of the
former landowners
CARP Theory of Change: Assumptions, Activities, Outputs and Outcomes
Assumption: rural economy’s underperformance especially in
terms of investment, productivity, income growth, poverty is
engrained in the long-standing unfairness in land ownership and
tenancy relation in the country
Solution: Addressing these inequities – necessary to improve the
prospects of agrarian households to have access to and control of
agricultural land> to construct viable livelihoods and overcome rural
poverty– to transform small farmers/tenants into efficient agricultural
producers or entrepreneurs.
+ absence of a single projection map among land agencies–
Two (2) Programs under CARP
1. Developmental Program
● Disposal of public alienable and disposable (A & D) lands with intent
to open up frontier lands (PIDS, 3/5)
2. Redistributive Program
● Involves the redistribution of property or rights on private agricultural
lands and the abolition of agricultural (or share) tenancy
DAR
delivery of agrarian justice, units of the DAR such as the Provincial
Agrarian Reform Adjudication Division (PARAD) and Regional Agrarian
Reform Adjudication Division (RARAD) are involved.
A. DENR
takes charge of the land survey plan verification & approval and the distribution
of public A&D lands, agricultural financing, determine land valuation and
landowners’ compensation and extend credit assistance to ARBs and ARBOs
B. DOLE
provides extension services particularly in terms of community organizing for
farmworkers.
- Targeting –largely influenced by landowners, local officials including
DAR officials at the local level.
the Stock Distribution Option
+ apparently did not benefit most beneficiaries.
leasehold arrangements– there is no significant change, share tenancy persist
implementation of the program may have been flawed
+ redoing land reform by revising the law towards a “genuine” program
is unnecessary.
Land reform as a policy lever to address inequities and poverty in the agriculture
sector has become obsolete.
- Agricultural households are investing in education, skills upgrading,
overseas work, non-farm assets (e.g. housing). The objectives of
poverty and equity can be achieved through alternative programs that
is of lower cost to the government
+ support programs to modernize agriculture that will benefit all small
farmers (whether ARB or non-ARB). DAR together with DA can
support policies and programs to provide small farms access to value
chain; consolidation of farm operations for economies of scale; and
development of social enterprises
+ Buklod nang Magbubukid sa Lupang Ramos v. E.M. Ramos, G.R. No.
131481, 16 March 2011
In 2011, the Supreme Court enacted with finality an order exempting Lupang Ramos from
distribution to farmers under CARP, citing the earlier ordinance designating the land as
residential.
On a final note, this Court has stressed more than once that social justice
never is it justified to give preference to the poor simply because they are poor
Banana
- intense legal and meta-legal struggles involving inclusion/exclusion cases,
fights for recognition of autonomous organizations, and negotiations for
post-distribution contracts with former landowners.
That inclusion/exclusion cases should still dominate the attention of DAR after a decade
of CARP implementation is a testimony on how little preparation
Rise of new cacique led “democratic elites
2022 Agrarian Emancipation Act
- 600,00 farmer beneficiaries.
% rateof VLT scheme in Davalo del Norte higher than the national average of 25%
– land reform evasion & accompanied by post-land transfer scheme
Controversial Terms of Agreement [Stanfilco - SEARBAI MOU] mother of all contracts
– controversial and flawes
HENCE, a Third faction (ALDA)-- Militant among 3 factions
Goal:Post-CARP institutional set-up "[A]grarian reform is framed in the context of an
area-based rural development paradigm wherein LGUs and local social organizations
are the key protagonists.
MODULE 3
UDHA (Urban Development and Housing Act 1992)
SECTION 9. The State shall, by law, and for the common good, undertake, in
cooperation with the public sector, a continuing program of urban land reform and
housing which will make available at affordable cost decent housing and basic
services to underprivileged and homeless citizens in urban centers and
resettlements areas. It shall also promote adequate employment opportunities to
such citizens. In the implementation of such program the State shall respect the
rights of small property owners.
SECTION 10. Urban or rural poor dwellers shall not be evicted nor their dwellings
demolished, except in accordance with law and in a just and humane manner
UDHA's Coverage
SEC. 4. Coverage. - The Program shall cover all lands in urban and urbanizable
areas, including existing areas for priority development, zonal improvement sites,
slum improvement and resettlement sites, and in other areas that may be
identified by the local government units as suitable for socialized housing.
Under UDHA, what is the LGU’s role in the use, inventory, acquisition and
disposition of land? See Secs. 7-14, UDHA
(o) “Security of tenure” refers to the degree of protection afforded to qualified
Program beneficiaries against infringement or unjust, reasonable and arbitrary
eviction or disposition, by virtue of the right of ownership, lease agreement,
usufruct and other contractual arrangements;
SEC. 28. Eviction and Demolition. – Eviction or demolition as a practice shall be
discouraged. Eviction or demolition, however, may be allowed under the following
situations:
(a) When persons or entities occupy danger areas such as esteros, railroad
tracks, garbage dumps, riverbanks, shorelines, waterways, and other public
places such as sidewalks, roads, parks, and playgrounds;
(2) Adequate consultations on the matter of resettlement with the duly designated
representatives of the families to be resettled and the affected communities in the
areas where they are to be relocated;
Puro Kahig, Walang Matuka”
by Jowee de Leon
Human Rights Based Approach
- Constant exposure to adverse effects à normalization of threat
(resilience)
Ryan Quan,Role of State and Non-State Actors
Citizens’ Mindset and Cooperation
• Official Acts By LGU, Adoption of Local Ordinance, “Adopt a Family” Program,
Implementation of Method of Transporting Residents to Evacuation Centers,
Citizen Education and Training
Climate-Induced Migration
● Voluntary Adaptive Strategies (community organizing, permanent and
circular migration)
● Involuntary Adaptive Strategies (distress migration, systemic
relocation) –difference in adaptive capacities
1.Mobilization, capacity building, signature campaign
(Leadership Training, Advocacy and Organizing, SAC, Human Rights Advocates
, ML and EJK through Pulong Bahay with IDEALs, Office of SenDe5 and OVP)
2. Constructive engagement with the executive, legislative and local
government branch of government to provide services for the poor and to
legislate measures that will protect the gains of democracy based on the 1987
Constitution (constructive framework engagement, ie. National and Local
Development Councils)
4Ps (conditional cash transfer; cut intergenerational poverty cycle)
- national poverty reduction strategy and a human capital investment
program that provides conditional cash transfer to poor households
for a maximum period of seven (7) years, to improve the health,
nutrition and education aspect of their lives.
- Beneficiaries Farmers, fisherfolks, homeless families, indigenous
peoples, those in the informal settler sector and those in GIDAs-
based on standardized targeting system to be conducted by the
DSWD:
Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilya ng Pantawid (SNPP)
- CSO, independent people’s organization of parent leaders and 4Ps
beneficiaries.
- AO Aug 2023 –160,086 members nationwide
- Lobbied CCT Bill in COngress (2013-24)
- Unity walk and lobbying for the support of champions in the Senate
and Congress in 2016
Ms. Analiza Natalio
- Formerly a 4Ps beneficiary
- Produkto ng Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilya ng Pantawid
(SNPP)
- To disjunct notion that 4Ps program is merely a dole out of taxpayer’s
money
Ms Jaena Catacio
Training to 4Ps beneficiaries: how bill becomes a law
- Applied their ample knowledge from this , It served as impetus
–training ground
+ Means to have a seat in the HP, No regard for political inclination
+ Conversations– highlighted the need to be knowledge on the law
+ balancer/ arbiter between the government and the community
+ First time in the history of interpellation in the House of Rep. – that
the plenary was filled with constituents –4Ps mother
+ “Kailangan kong tumindig, kailangan kong maninindigan para sa
taong to at sa mga anak niya” –ANSA– funding to SNPP