AGRARIAN AND LAND REFORM

Reform

• Refers to the presence of something that does not fit into a particular
present situation. Something should be done or corrective measures
should be undertaken to reshape in order to fit into the present condition

Land Reform

• Refers to the full range of measures that may or should be taken to

improve or remedy the defect in the relations among men with respect to
the rights in the use of land
• It can further be defined as a set of integrated sets of measures designed
to eliminate obstacle to economic and social development arising out
defects in the agrarian structure
Agrarian Reform

• Refers to the term which comprises not only land reform but also the reform and development of
complimentary institutional framework, rural education and social welfare institutions and not
limited, simply, to the question of the relation of the farmers to the land.

Agrarian Reform Program

• Designed to bring about improvement in all the institutions surrounding farm life and other group
measures necessary to make the work of the tenant, farm worker and owner-cultivator a success

• May be further defines as the re-distribution of land to farmers and regular farm workers who are
landless, regardless of the number of years of occupancy in the area. This is to include the total
factors of support services to uplift the economic status of the farmer beneficiaries.

• Tends to solve land problems to improve the quality of life of the farmers and other people in the
countryside, thus making them productive and worthy participants in the economic, social and
political affairs in the community.
 OBJECTIVES OF THE AGRARIAN
REFORM PROGRAM
• The agrarian reform program is an integrated plan of
action that aims to solve the problems of low
agricultural productivity and poverty of our farmers.
• The primary purpose or aim of the program is to
transfer land ownership from the landlord to the tillers
of the soil in order to achieve a dignified existence for
the small farmers.
• The basic objective of the agrarian reform program is
to make the tiller of the soil the owner of the land he
cultivates and, at the same time, improve socio-
economic atmosphere that surrounds him and
ensuring greater returns for his labor on the land.
 OBJECTIVES OF THE AGRARIAN
REFORM PROGRAM
1. Public health provision
2. Family planning
3. Education and training famers
4. Reorganization of land reform agencies
5. Application of labor laws to agricultural workers
6. Construction of infrastructure facilities
7. Organization of various types of voluntary
associations
8. Provide employment opportunities for
underemployed or surplus rural labor
 HISTORY OF AGRARIAN REFORM
A. Pre-Spanish Period

Tribal hunters & gatherers, shifting cultivators,

those with sedentary culture, Muslims
system(social classes).
The Different Social Classes:

• The Nobles- can own their land and free from tribute
payment.

• The Serfs- they need to cultivate certain lands, and

required to pay an annual fee of one-half yield of their
crops.

• The Slaves- they simply served the datu or the nobles were
owned by them. As a result they could be sold or traded.
B. Spanish Period

• Spain declared all lands in the Philippines as a

part of public domain.
• “Encomienda system” Under the empire of
Spain.
• “cacique class”
• “Kasama System” Leased portion of their
landed.
Because of the oppressive practice s of the cacique
occasional rebellions occurred during 18th century
in central Luzon.

Among causes were:

1. Enforced labor
2. Relatively heavy head tax
3. Required church and government contributions
C. American Period

• 1903 to 1938 increase in tenancy rate and land ownership

decreased.

• the land was subdivided for sale to the Filipinos residing on

it. 1938, church still controlled an estimated 41, 782
hectares.

• Homesteading
• “sakdalista” movement (1930) Benigno Ramos, a former
official who opposed Quezon.
• Pedro Abad Santos almost won against the
candidate of pampango landlords.

• He espoused the idea of expropriation of the

religious and public estates and their
subdivisions to the tenant-farmers as the only
answer to agrarian unrest.
• Indeed, the agrarian problem festered for so long
a time that the 1935 constitution incorporated a
cardinal principle on social justice to insure the
well-being and economic security of all the
people.

• To give substance and meaning to this principle,

several laws were enacted to protect the working
class both in industry and agriculture.
D. The Present Republic

• July 04, 1946 – the need of land reform

became pressing.
• “HUKBALAHAP” – Hukbong Bayan Laban sa
mga Hapon, as an anti-Japanese guerilla
movement formed by the peasant farmers of
Central Luzon.
• 1946, Pres. Manuel Roxas enacted RA. 34 of
1946, providing for a 70-30 crops sharing
arrangements and regulating share-tenancy
contracts to solve land tenure problems.

• September 1954 pres, Ramon Magsaysay signed

into law RA no. 1199 as amended by RA no. 2263
which allowed for the division of crops.

• 1955 the land reform act was enacted.

• 1963, Pres. Diosdado Macapagal signed into law RA no.
3844 (Agricultural land reform code)

• Sept. 21, 1972 Pres. Marcos issued Presidential Decree no.

2 declaring the entire Philippines as land reform area.

• Oct. 21, 1972 Pres. Marcos issued Presidential Decree no.

27, “emancipating the tenant-farmers from the bondage of
the soil.” in one stroke, tenant farmers in all private
agricultural; lands primarily devoted to rice and corn were
deemed owners of the lands they were tilling.
• It was a very BOLD step taken toward
hastening the full implementation and
realization of agrarian reform.

• Under the new constitution , the primary

governing law on agrarian reform is RA No.
6657, otherwise known as the comprehensive
Agrarian Reform law of 1988.
 Objectives of the Agrarian Reform
Program
• The agrarian reform program is an integrated plan of action
that aims to solve the problems of low agricultural
productivity and poverty of our farmers.

• The primary purpose or aim of the program is to transfer

land ownership from the landlord to the tillers of the soil in
order to achieve a dignified existence for the small farmers.

• The basic objective of the agrarian reform program is to

make the tiller of the soil the owner of the land he
cultivates and, at the same time, improved socio-economic
atmosphere that surrounds him and ensuring greater
returns for his labor on land.
Focus of the Agrarian Reform Program
1. Public health provisions
2. Family planning
3. Education and training of farmers
4. Recognition of land reform agencies
5. Application of labor laws to agricultural workers
6. Construction of infrastructure facilities (feeder roads, irrigation
systems and the establishment of rural electrification)
7. Organization of various types of voluntary associations (farmers’
association, farmers’ cooperatives and many others)
8. Provide employment opportunities for underemployed or surplus
rural labor (development of small and medium-scale industries)
9. Other services which are community development in nature
 Components of an Agrarian Reform
Program
1. Land Distribution

Refers to the program of granting certificates of

title to the farmers for the land they are tilling.
The titles make the farmers the owners of the
land they are tilling
2. Companion Measures

• Refers to the creation and development of new social institutions that

could help carry out the implementation of institutionalized reforms.

• These are steps undertaken as complementary measures or programs to

effectively implement the land distribution process.

Some of the measures:

 Credit
 Modern and better methods of production
 Marketing facilities
 Equitable pricing
 infrastructure
 Farmers’ cooperatives
 Agrarian Legislations
• Laws have been enacted, since the start of the 20th century as legal bases for the Agrarian Reform
Programs.

These are:

1. The Public Land Act of July 1, 1902

2. Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1993 (Public Act No. 4054)
3. Sugar Cane Tenancy Contracts Act (Act No. 4113)
4. Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1946 (Republic Act No.34)
5. The Agricultural Tenancy Act 1954 (Republic Act No. 1199)
6. Land Reform Act of 1995 (Republic Act No. 1400)
7. The Agricultural Land Reform Code of 1963 (Republic Act No. 3844)
8. Code of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 6389)
9. Agrarian Reform Special Fund Act (Republic Act No. 6369)
10. Presidential Decree No. 27
11. Executive Order No. 129-A
12. Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (Republic Act No. 6657)
 AGRARIAN LEGISLATIONS
1. THE PUBLIC LAND ACT OF JULY 1, 1902
Becoming effective on July 26, 1914, it offered
homestead plots, not in excess of 16 hectares, to
families who had occupied and cultivated the tract
they were residing on since August 1, 1898

2. RICE SHARE TENANCY ACT OF 1933

It’s principal purpose was the regulation of tenancy
share contracts in the tenant-landlord relationship,
providing for a 50-50 sharing of the crop.
 AGRARIAN LEGISLATIONS
3. SUGARCANE TENANCY CONTRACTS ACT (ACT
NO.4113)
Regulated the relationship between landowners
and tenants on sugar lands.

4. RICE SHARE TENANCY ACT OF 1946 (RA NO.34)

President Manuel L. Roxas initiated the enactment
of this law which regulated the share-tenancy
contract and provided for, as a remedial measure, a
70-30 crop sharing arrangement.
 AGRARIAN LEGISLATIONS
5. THE AGRICULTURAL TENANCY ACT OF 1954 (RA
NO. 1199)
Pres. Ramon Magsaysay passed this law which
focused on the distribution of agricultural
production. It was amended by RA No. 2263 which
allowed for the division of crops into land, labor,
animals, implements, final harrowing and
transplanting. If the tenant provided labor up to
transplanting, he could receive a maximum of 70%
of the crop, favoring the tenant-farmer.
 AGRARIAN LEGISLATIONS
6. LAND REFORM ACT OF 1955 (RA NO.1400)
Enacted to create the land tenure administration. The ff.
programs were covered:
a. Reduction of large landholdings and consolidation of
smaller, uneconomic holdings into plots of adequate
size.
b. Resettlement of tenants in areas of abundant land.
c. Provision of adequate credit facilities for the small
landholders.
d. Reduction of rental and interest rates in order to
provide security for those who would remain tenant.
e. Securing land titles for small holders.
f. Reform of the property structure.
 AGRARIAN LEGISLATIONS
7. THE AGRICULTURAL LAND REFORM CODE OF 1963 (RA NO. 3844)
Enacted during the presidency of Diosdado Macapagal, its most
important provision was the reduction of the retention limit of land to
75 hectares. It also necessitated the creation of Land Authority
8. CODE OF AGRARIAN REFORM OF THE PHILIPPINES (RA NO. 6389)
Signed into law by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos, , its important features
were:
a. Abolition of personal cultivation and conversion to residential
subdivision as grounds for the ejection of tenants.
b. Automatic conversion of all share-tenancy in the Philippines to
leasehold tenancy, with some exceptions and qualifications.
c. Section 29 mandated the replacement of the Department of
Agrarian Reform, effectively replacing the Land Authority.
 AGRARIAN LEGISLATIONS
9. AGRARIAN REFORM SPECIAL FUND ACT (RA NO.
6369)
Created an Agrarian reform special account finance
the Agrarian reform program of the government.

10. PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO.27

A decree issued by Pres. Marcos, it declared the
entire Philippines as land reform area, providing for
the emancipation of tenants from the bondage of
soil. It required the full implementation and
realization of the agrarian reform program.
 The Code of Agrarian Reform
• The Code of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines
referred to here as Code, was enacted to serve as
legal basis of its operation. This code identifies
the three major groups of population.

Identified Groups:

1. Tenant Farmers
2. Agricultural Wage Earners (farm workers)
3. Owner-Cultivator
 Land Covered Under the Agrarian
Reform Program
1. Tenanted Areas

- Presidential Decree No. 27 specified these areas worked

by tenants, either through the share tenancy or leasehold
tenancy system and those private agricultural lands
primarily devoted to rice and corn

2. Landed Estates

- Private agricultural lands acquired by the Department of

Agrarian Reform through Land Bank of the Philippines for the
redistribution to the tillers, both under the Code or previous
laws
3. Old Settlements

- these are the settlement projects developed by the

Department of Agrarian Reform Program from the
public domain. They are still under its administration
and management

4. Proposed Settlements

- Landless farmers and former dissidents who have not

acquired lands from tenanted areas are resettled in
these areas
 Kinds of Agricultural Tenancy in the
Philippines
1. Share Tenancy

Exists where a person has physical possession of

another’s land for the purpose of cultivating it and giving
the owner’s share of the crop.

2. Leasehold Tenancy

The relationship that exists between the land owner and

the tiller, whereby the latter pays a fixed rental to the
former for the use of cultivation of the land