COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM LAW OF 1988

Introduction

It is the basic policy of the state to pursue a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)
for the welfare of the landless farmers and farmworkers. To promote this end, the State framed
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 just share of the fruits thereof. The State shall further encourage and undertake the just
distribution of all agricultural lands, subject to the priorities and retention limits set forth in this
Act, taking the ecological, developmental, and equity considerations, and subject to the payment
of just compensation. Lastly, the State shall respect the right of small land owners, and shall
provide incentive for voluntary land-sharing.

Coverage; Exemptions and Exclusions

The law covers all public and private agricultural lands, regardless of tenurial arrangement and
commodity produced. In specific terms, it includes the following:
1. All alienable and disposable lands of public domain devoted to or suitable for
agriculture; 
2. Lands of the public domain in excess to specific limits;
3. Lands owned by the government devoted to or suitable for agriculture; and 
4. Private lands devoted to or suitable for agriculture regardless of the agricultural products
raised.

While 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,
national defense, school sites and campuses including experimental farm stations operated by
public or private schools for educational purposes, seeds and seedlings research and pilot
production centers, church sites and convents appurtenant thereto, mosque sites and Islamic
centers appurtenant thereto, communal burial grounds and cemeteries, penal colonies and penal
farms actually worked by the inmates, government and private research and quarantine centers
and all lands with eighteen percent (18%) slope and over, except those already developed shall
be exempt from the coverage of the Act.

Jurisdiction

Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)

The DAR is hereby vested with primary jurisdiction to determine and adjudicate agrarian
reform matters and shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over all matters involving the
implementation of agrarian reform except those falling under the exclusive jurisdiction of the
Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR).
Notwithstanding an appeal to the Court of Appeals, the decision of the DAR shall be
immediately executory.

In the case of Sta. Rosa Realty Development Corporation v. Amante , the Court clarifies that
Section 50 pertains to both the Department of Agrarian Reform's: (1) administrative function,
which involves enforcing, administering, and carrying agrarian reform laws into operation; and
(2) quasi-judicial function, which involves the determination of parties' rights and obligations in
agrarian reform matters.

Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board (DARAB)

In the exercise of its quasi-judicial function, the Department of Agrarian Reform, through its
adjudication arm— the Adjudication Board and its regional and provincial adjudication boards
shall have exclusive appellate jurisdiction to review, reverse, modify, alter, or affirm resolutions,
orders, and decisions of its Adjudicators who have primary and exclusive original jurisdiction
over the following cases:

1. The rights and obligations of persons, whether natural or juridical, engaged in the
management, cultivation, and use of all agricultural lands covered by Republic Act (RA)
No. 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL), and
other related agrarian laws;
2. The preliminary administrative determination of reasonable and just compensation of
lands acquired under Presidential Decree (PD) No. 27 and the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program (CARP);
3. The annulment or cancellation of lease contracts or deeds of sale or their amendments
involving lands under the administration and disposition of the DAR or Land Bank of the
Philippines (LBP);
4. Those cases involving the ejectment and dispossession of tenants and/or leaseholders;
5. Those cases involving the sale, alienation, pre-emption, and redemption of agricultural
lands under the coverage of the CARL or other agrarian laws;
6. Those involving the correction, partition, cancellation, secondary and subsequent
issuances of Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) and Emancipation Patents
(EPs) which are registered with the Land Registration Authority.

Further the Rules states that neither the Adjudicator nor the Adjudication Board has jurisdiction
over matters involving the administrative implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Law and other agrarian laws, as they are exclusively cognizable by the Department of
Agrarian Reform Secretary.

In Sutton v. Lim, this Court clarified that the Adjudication Board's jurisdiction over petitions for
cancellation of registered certificates of land ownership award is confined to agrarian disputes:

While the DARAB may entertain petitions for cancellation of CLOAs, as in this case, its
jurisdiction is, however, confined only to agrarian disputes. As explained in the case of  Heirs of
Dela Cruz v. Heirs of Cruz and reiterated in the recent case of Bagongahasa v. Spouses Cesar
Caguin, for the DARAB to acquire jurisdiction, the controversy must relate to an agrarian
dispute between the landowners and tenants in whose favor CLOAs have been issued by the
DAR Secretary.

An agrarian dispute is defined under Section 3(d) of R.A. No. 6657 as:cralawlawlibrary

(d) Agrarian Dispute refers to any controversy relating to tenurial arrangements, whether
leasehold, tenancy, stewardship or otherwise, over lands devoted to agriculture, including
disputes concerning farmworkers associations or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing,
maintaining, changing or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of such tenurial arrangements.

It includes any controversy relating to compensation of lands acquired under this Act and other
terms and conditions of transfer of ownership from landowners to farmworkers, tenants and other
agrarian reform beneficiaries, whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of farm
operator and beneficiary, landowner and tenant, or lessor and lessee.

Retention and Distribution Limits

To promote the goal of the State, the law prohibits landowners to retain more than five (5)
hectares of land and an additional three (3) hectares for each child of the landowner subject to
the following qualifications: (1) that he/she is over fifteen (15) years of age; and (2) he/she is
personally cultivating the land. In the same way, the distribution limit for qualified beneficiaries
is three (3) hectares or agricultural land. 

Qualified Beneficiaries

The lands covered by the CARP shall be distributed as much as possible to landless residents of
the same barangay, or in the absence thereof, landless residents of the same municipality in the
following order:

1. Agricultural lessees and share tenants, 

2. Regular farmworkers, 
3. Seasonal farmworkers
4. Other farm workers; 
5. Actual tillers or occupants of public lands, 
6. Collective or cooperatives of the beneficiaries; 
7. Other directly working on the land

Only those who meet the following qualifications shall be eligible as beneficiaries:

1. Landless as defined by R.A. No. 6657;

2. Filipino citizen;
3. Permanent resident of the barangay and/or municipality, if applicable[;]
4. At least fifteen (15) years of age or head of family at the time of acquisition of the
property (titled in the name of the Republic of the Philippines), or at least 18 years old as
of 15 June 1988 in the case of Commercial Farms (CFs); and
5. Willing and have the ability and aptitude to cultivate and make the land productive.
Transferability of Awarded lands

Lands acquired by beneficiaries under this Act or other agrarian reform laws shall not be sold,
transferred or conveyed except through hereditary succession, or to the government, or to the
Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), or to other qualified beneficiaries through the DAR for a
period of ten (10) years: Provided, however, that the children or the spouse of the transferor shall
have the right to repurchase the land from the government of LBP within a period of two (2)
years. (Sec. 12, R.A. No 9700 amending Sec. 27 of R.A. No 6657)

It is clear from the provision that lands awarded to beneficiaries under the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) may not be sold, transferred or conveyed for a period of 10
years. The law enumerated four exceptions: (1) through hereditary succession; (2) to the
government; (3) to the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP); or (4) to other qualified
beneficiaries.

In short, during the prohibitory ten (10) year period, any sale, disposition, lease, management,
contract or transfer of possession of private lands upon effectivity of this Act executed by the
original landowner in violation of the Act shall be null and void except as allowed by law, in
order to prevent a circumvention of agrarian reform laws: provided, however, that those executed
prior to this Act shall be valid only when registered with the Register of Deeds within a period of
three (3) months after the effectivity of this Act. Thereafter, all Registers of Deeds shall inform
the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) within thirty (30) days of any transaction involving
agricultural lands in excess of five (5) hectares. (Sec. 6, R.A. No. 6657)

However, the DAR No. 2 Series of 2001 provides procedures for the annulment of deeds of
conveyance executed in violation of RA 6657 which are as follows:
a) The Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer (MARO) shall undertake the following:
1. Secure certified true copy of certificate of title of the subject landholding,
deed of conveyance from the Register of Deeds (ROD), and the Certificate
of Aggregate Landholdings from the Assessor’s Office;
2. Identify the names of the original landowners-transferor and the transferee
and prepare a description of the land subject of illegal transfer; and
3. Submit a report on the illegal transaction, together with all the relevant
documents to the Provincial Reform Officer (PARO), through the Chief,
Legal Division.
b) The Chief, Legal Division, of the Provincial Agrarian Reform Office, shall have
the following responsibilities:
1. Upon receipt if the MARO report, determine whether or not there was
illegal transfer of agricultural lands;
2. If there was illegal transfer, file a petition for annulment of the deed of
conveyance in behalf of the PARO before the Provincial Agrarian Reform
Adjudicator (PARAD). The petition shall state the material facts
constituting the violation and pray for the issuance of an order from the
PARAD directing the ROD to cancel the deed of conveyance and the TCT
generated as result thereof;
 3. Represent the PARO in the hearings of the petition and ensure that the
case is expeditiously resolved;
4. Upon finality of the decision granting annulment of the deed of
conveyance, immediately secure a writ of execution to implement the
same;
5. After the writ of execution has been served, secure from the ROD the
documents necessary to facilitate land acquisition in the name of the
original landowner. Thereafter, indorse the documents to CARPO for
operations; and
6. In the event of an adverse decision or a denial of the petition, file a notice
of appeal within the 15-day reglementary period with the DARAB, and
thereafter, transmit the records of the to the Director, Bureau of Agraria
Legal Assistance (BALA), for prosecution of the appeal.
c) The CARPO for Operations shall immediately initiate the acquisition and
distribution of the lands subject of illegal transfer upon receipt of the duly served
writ of execution and other documents from the ROD.

In case of an unlawful sale, transfer, mortgage, purchase or conveyance; Remedies

One basic qualification of a beneficiary shall be his willingness, aptitude, and ability to cultivate
and make the land as productive as possible. In consequence, during the prohibitory 10-year
period, any unlawful sale, transfer, mortgage, purchase or conveyance of Certificate of land
ownership award (CLOA) acquired by the farmer beneficiaries through CARP shall result to the
reversion of the land to DAR and thereafter redistributed to a more responsible farmer.

The law emphasized that beneficiaries under Presidential Decree No. 27 who have culpably sold
disposed of, or abandoned their land are disqualified to become beneficiaries under CARP. A
CLOA beneficiary is prohibited to sell, transfer or convey the right to use or any usufructuary
right over the land he acquired by virtue of being a beneficiary. Hence, even if counter-suits are
filed by the violators, these cases will not prosper because basic is the rule that he who comes to
court must come with clean hands.

While the buyer of the land lose their investments as they cannot have recourse to courts of law
since they are aware of the ten (10) year prohibition for farmers to dispose of their awarded
lands.