AGRARIAN REFORM DEFINED

ESPINOSA, ANA MARIE S.

SOCIAL STUDIES 1A
REPUBLICT ACT NO. 6657

• AN ACT INSTITUTING A COMPREHENSIVE

AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM TO PROMOTE
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND INDUSTRIALIZATION,
PROVIDING THE MECHANISM FOR ITS
IMPLEMENTATION, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES
AGRARIAN REFORM
Republic Act No. 6657 Section 3
• Agrarian Reform means the redistribution of lands, regardless of crops or
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988.

  fruits produced to farmers and regular farmworkers who are landless,

irrespective of tenurial arrangement, to include the totality of factors and
support services designed to lift the economic status of the beneficiaries and
all other arrangements alternative to the physical redistribution of lands, such
as production or profit-sharing, labor administration, and the distribution of
shares of stocks, which will allow beneficiaries to receive a just share of the
fruits of the lands they work.
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 27

● The emancipation of tenants from the bondage of the soil and transferring to
them the ownership of the land they till.

• Land reform refers to land distribution restricting the scope of land reform to
tenanted private agricultural lands primarily devoted to rice and corn lands
operating under a system of share-crop or lease tenancy whether classified as
landed estate or not, and set the retention limit as 7 hectares.
CONSTITUTIONAL OR UNCONSTITUTIONAL

• Article XIII Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution – 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 lands they till or, in the case of other farmworkers, to receive a just
share of the fruits thereof.
• The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law is Constitutional because it is
valid exercise of police power.
PURPOSE AND APPLICATION OF AGRARIAN REFORM
- The primary purpose of agrarian reform is to divide agricultural lands and transform them
into economic - size farm to be owned by the farmers themselves, in view of uplifting their socio
– economic status. 

- Economic Family – size farm means an area of the land that permits efficient use of
labour and capital resources of the farm family and will produce an income sufficient to
provide a modest standard of living to meet farm family's need for food, clothes, shelter, and
education with possible allowance for payment of yearly installment on the land, and
reasonable reserves to absorb yearly fluctuation in income.

- ONLY APPLIES TO AGRICULTURAL LAND

Agricultural Land refers to land devoted to agricultural activity and not classified as
mineral, forest, residential, commercial, industrial land.
 Lands covered by the Agrarian Reform Law and Its Exclusions
Republic Act no 6657 Section 4
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1989 shall cover, regardless of tenurial arrangement and
commodity produced, all public and private agricultural lands, as provided in Proclamation No. 131
and Executive Order No. 229, including other lands of the public domain suitable for agriculture.

• (a) All alienable and disposable lands of the public domain devoted to or suitable for agriculture. No
reclassification of forest or mineral lands to agricultural lands shall be undertaken after the approval of this Act
until Congress, taking into account ecological, developmental and equity considerations, shall have determined
by law, the specific limits of the public domain.
• (b) All lands of the public domain in excess of the specific limits as determined by Congress in the preceding
paragraph;
• (c) All other lands owned by the Government devoted to or suitable for agriculture; and
• (d) All private lands devoted to or suitable for agriculture regardless of the agricultural products raised or that
can be raised thereon.
 Not Covered
Republic Act No. 6657 Section 10

• All private lands with a total of five (5) hectares and below;
• Lands actually, directly  and exclusively used and found to be necessary for parks,
wildlife, forest reserves, reforestation, fish sanctuaries and breeding grounds,
watersheds, and mangroves.
• Lands actually, directly and exclusively used and found to be necessary national
defense, school sites and campuses including experimental farm stations operated
by public or private schools for educational purposes, church sites etc.
• Private lands actually, directly and exclusively used for prawn farms and
fishpond.
Ancestral Land Defined; as exemptions; jurisdiction to
exempt property 
Republic Act no 6657 Section 9
Ancestral Lands refers to the lands of the indigenous cultural community that includes, but not be
limited to, lands in the actual, continuous and open possession and occupation of the community and
its members.

Commercial Farming
Republic Act No. 6657 Section 11
Commercial farms, which are private agricultural lands devoted to commercial livestock,
poultry and swine raising, and aquaculture including saltbeds, fishponds and prawn ponds,
fruit farms, orchards, vegetable and cut-flower farms, and cacao, coffee and rubber
plantations, shall be subject to immediate compulsory acquisition and distribution after (10)
years from the effectivity of the Act.n the case of new farms, the ten-year period shall begin
from the first year of commercial production and operation, as determined by the DAR.
ORDER PRIORITY

• Agricultural lessees and share tenants;

• Regular farm workers
• Seasonal farm workers 
• Other farm workers
• Actual tillers or occupants of public lands
• Collectives or cooperatives of the above benificiaries
• Other directly working on the land
QUALIFICATIONS
• Must be 18 years old at the time of the filing of the application as a beneficiary.
• Must have the willingness, aptitude and ability to cultivate and make the land productive.
• Must have been employed in the commercial farm between June 15, 1988 and June 15, 1998 or
upon the expiration of the deferment.

CONSIDERED DISQUALIFIED WHEN:

•   Those who have mandatorily retired from service;
•   Those who optionally retired from service
•   Those who have resigned from working in the farm
•   Those who have been dismissed for cause by final judgement as    prescribed
under labor laws 
•   Those who have waive or refused to be a beneficiary
•   Those who have committed violations of agrarian reform laws and regulations
as determined with finality after proper proceedings by appropriate tribunal or
agency
RETENTION LIMITS (REPUBLIC ACT NO 6657 SECTION 6) 
no person may own or retain, directly or indirectly, any public or private agricultural land, the size of
which shall vary according to factors governing a viable family-size farm, such as commodity
produced, terrain, infrastructure, and soil fertility as determined by the Presidential Agrarian Reform
Council (PARC) created hereunder, but in no case shall retention by the landowner exceed five (5)
hectares. Three (3) hectares may be awarded to each child of the landowner, subject to the following
qualifications:

Criteria for the awards of retention in Commercial Farms

• The land is a private agricultural lands
• The area is compact and contiguous, and the least prejudicial to the entire landholding and the majority of farmers
therein;
• The land owner shall execute an affidavit as to the aggregate area of his landholding in the entire Philippines.
• The land owner shall also submit a list of hid children which are at least 15 years old and above, who are
actually cultivating the land or directly managing the farm since 6/15/1988 for identification of the preferred
beneficiaries, as well as evidence thereof.
• The landowner shall also execute an affidavit stating the names of all farmers, agricultural lessees
and share tenants, regular farmworkers, seasonal farmworkers, other farmworkers, actual tillers
or occupants, and/or other persons directly working on the land; if there are no such persons, a
sworn statement attesting to such fact.

Obligations of the landowners over the retained lands

• To cultivate the land directly or thru labor administrations
• To make it productive
• To respect the security of tenure of the farmers or farmworkers on the land
prior to the approval of RA 6657
• To retain the actual tenant farmers in the landholdings
• To register within 3 months after 6/15/1988 all transactions such as sale,
disposition, lease or transfer with the Regional Director (RD) to be valid.
TYPES OF AGRIBUSINESS VENTURE ARRANGEMENT
• Build-Operate Transfer (BOT) Scheme – is a contractual arrangement  entered into, whereby the project
proponent undertakes the construction, including financing, of a given infrastructure facility and the
operation and maintenance thereof for an agreed period of time, but not exceed 25 years, subject to
extensions pursuant to R.A 6947, as amended.
• Contract Growing Arrangement - is an agribusiness arrangement whereby ARBs own the land and commit,
either collectively through their cooperative or individually, to produce certain crops for an investor or
agribusiness firm that contracts to buy the produce at pre-arranged terms.
• Joint Venture Agreement- a contract between at least two business entities or individuals entering into a
temporary business relationship.
• Lease Arrangement -  lease agreement is a legally binding contract between a landlord and tenant that
outlines the terms by which the tenant can rent property from the landlord, such as the duration of the lease,
the monthly rent amount, and maintenance responsibilities.
• Management Contract -  is an agribusiness arrangement whereby ARBs, or their cooperative/ organization,
hire the services of the landowner or an investor to manage and operate the farm in exchange for fixed wages
or commission.
DETERMINATION OF LEASE RENTALS (SECTION 12)

 In order to protect and improve the tenurial and economic

status of the farmers in tenanted lands under the retention limit
and lands not yet acquired under this Act, the DAR is
mandated to determine and fix immediately the lease rentals
thereof in accordance with Section 34 of Republic Act No.
3844, as amended: provided, that the DAR shall immediately
and periodically review and adjust the rental structure for
different crops, including rice and corn, or different regions in
order to improve progressively the conditions of the farmer,
tenant or lessee.
THANK YOU !!!