Agrarian Legislations

Laws have been enacted, since the start

oh the 20th century, as legal bases for
the agrarian reform programs
1. The Public Land Act of July 1, 1902becoming effective on July 26, 1904,
it offered homestead plots not in
excess of 16 hectares to family who
had occupied and cultivated the tract
they were residing on since August 1,
1898.

2. Rice Share Tenancy Act of July

1, 1933 (Public Act No. 4054)- its
principal purpose was the
regulation of tenancy share
contracts in the tenant-landlord
relationship, providing for 50-50
sharing of crops.
3. Sugar Cane Tenancy Contracts
Act (Act No. 4113)- regulated the
relationship between landowners

4. Rice Share Tenancy Act Of 1946

( Republic Act No. 34)- president
Manuel L. Roxas initiated the
enactment of this law which
regulated
the
share-tenancy
contract and provided for, as
remedial measure, a 70-30 cropsharing arrangement.

5. The Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954

(Republic Act No. 1199)- sometime in
September 1954, president Ramon
Magsaysay, through Congress, passed this law
which focused on the distribution of
agricultural production. It was amended by
republic act no. 2263 which allowed for the
division of crops into land, labor, animals,
implements, final harrowing and
transplanting, he could receive a maximum of
70% of the crops, favoring the tenant- farmer.

6. Land Reform Act of 1954 (Republic

Act No. 1400)- was enacted to create
the land tenure administration. The
following 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 remain tenant.
e. Securing of land titles for small
holders.
f. Reform of the property
structure.

7. The Agricultural Land Reform

Code of 1963 (Republic Act No.
3844)- enacted on August 8,
1963 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 the
land authority.

8. Code of Agrarian Reform of the

Philippines (Republic Act No.
6389)- signed into law by Pres.
Ferdinand
E.
Marcos
on
September 10, 1971, it is an
amendment to the Agricultural
Land
Reform
Code,
upon
pressure imposed by the peasant
organization who picketed for 84
days in front of the Legislative

Its important features are:

a) Abolition of personal cultivation and
conversion to residential subdivision as
grounds for the election of tenants.
b) Automatic conversion of all share-tenancy
in the Philippines to leashold tenancy,
with some exceptions and qualifications.
c) Section 29 mandated the creation of the
Department
of
Agrarian
Reform,
effectively replacing the Land Authority.

d) Right of the tenant, on land converted to

residential
subdivisions,
to
demand
a
disturbance compensation equivalent to five
times the average gross harvest for the three
equivalent years.
e) Increased financing for the land reform
program.
f) Crediting of rentals in favor of the tenants
against the just compensation that he would
have to pay in case the land was expropriated
by the government for resale to the tenant.

9. Agrarian Reform Special Fund Act ( Republic

Act No. 6369)- created an agrarian reform
special account to finance the Agrarian
Reform Program of the government.
10. Presidential Decree No. 27- a decree
issued on September 26, 1972 by Pres.
Marcos, it declared the entire Philippines as
a 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.

11. Executive Order No. 129-A - as

of July 26, 1987, the focus was
on
the
reorganizing
and
strengthening of the Department
of
Agrarian
Reform
and
Executive
Order
No.
228
declared full land ownership to
qualified farmer beneficiaries
covered by Presidential Decree
No. 27.

12. Comprehensive Agrarian

Reform Law (Republic Act No.
6657)- signed by Pres. Corazon
C. Aquino on June 10, 1988, it
instituted a Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program
(CARP). Executive Order No. 229
provided the mechanisms
initially needed to implement the
program.

The code of agrarian

reform
The code of agrarian reform of the
Philippines, referred here as the
code, was enacted to serve as
the legal basis of its operation.
This code identifies the three
major groups of the agricultural
population. The identified groups
are:

1. Tenant farmers- the carry-over

of
the
previous
colonizers,
particularly the Spaniards. In the
past, under the share tenancy
system, the tenant farmer got
less of the produce while the
owner got the biggest share of
the product. With the enactment
of the code, the share tenancy
system
was
automatically
changed
into
the
leasehold
tenancy
system
where
the

2. Agricultural Wage Earners (or

farm workers)
- are now protected under the
Code and enjoy the right enjoyed
by the industrial workers.
3. Owner-Cultivator
- these farmers of less than
family-size farm can still have
the chance and opportunity to
purchase additional lands. By
doing so, they become more
independent and self-reliant and

Land Covered Under

the
Agrarian Reform
Program

The code has provided specification as

to land covered by the agrarian
reform program. These are:
1. Tenant areas- Presidential Decree
No. 27 specified these areas worked
by the 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 redistribution to
the tellers, 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 land from
tenanted areas are resettled in
these areas.