BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Land reform has long been a contentious issue in the

Philippines, where a lasting legacy of Spanish colonial rule
was a concentration of ownership among a wealthy few.

Large corporations came to control the bulk of farm

land for plantations of coconuts, bananas and pineapples.

Matters came to a head in 1987, when the military

attacked peasants marching in Manila, killing more than a
dozen.

Enacted the following year, CARP allowed land owners

to retain up to 5 hectares, in addition to 3 hectares for each
heir. The state would acquire the remainder for distribution
among the landless.

But inaccurate and missing land titles slowed

acquisitions, according to DAR. Landowners filed petitions for
exemptions, or installed fraudulent beneficiaries on their
land, activists say.

"Landlords and corporations who own large holdings are

a powerful lobby, so acquisition of private lands fell well
below target," said Marlon Manuel, an adviser to the legal
advocacy group Namati.

"Where land was distributed, there were no other

services like funding or marketing. The farmers had little
experience in managing land, and many of them ended up
leasing or selling the land and finding themselves landless
again," he said.

An official at the provincial DAR office in Tagum City

said all qualified beneficiaries had been identified, and that
distribution was still underway.

"There is a procedure to become an Agricultural Reform

Beneficiary (ARB), and we believe it is nearly perfect. Those
who say they did not receive land - perhaps they did not
qualify," Jocelyn Seno said in an interview in her office.

"As for those who say fake ARBs have been installed in
land holdings, there are legal options open to them, and it is
up to them to prove they are fake. We have installed ARBs

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after identification and verification, and we stand by the
process."

HISTORY

Land reform in the Philippines has long been a

contentious issue rooted in the Philippines's Spanish Colonial
Period. Some efforts began during the American Colonial
Period with renewed efforts during the Commonwealth,
following independence, during Martial Law and especially
following the People Power Revolution in 1986. The current
law, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, was
passed following the revolution and recently extended until
2014.

Much like Mexico and other Spanish colonies in the

Americas, the Spanish settlement in the Philippines revolved
around the encomiendasystem of plantations, known
as haciendas. As the 19th Century progressed,
industrialization and liberalization of trade allowed these
encomiendas to expand their cash crops, establishing a
strong sugar industry in the Philippines, especially in
the Visayan island of Negros.

Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933

When the Philippine Commonwealth was established,

President Manuel L. Quezon implemented the Rice Share
Tenancy Act of 1933. The purpose of this act was to regulate
the share-tenancy contracts by establishing minimum
standards. Primarily, the Act provided for better tenant-
landlord relationship, a 50–50 sharing of the crop, regulation
of interest to 10% per agricultural year, and a safeguard
against arbitrary dismissal by the landlord. The major flaw of
this law was that it could be used only when the majority
of municipal councils in a province petitioned for it. Since
landowners usually controlled such councils, no province
ever asked that the law be applied. Therefore, Quezón
ordered that the act be mandatory in all Central
Luzon provinces. However, contracts were good only for one
year. By simply refusing the renew their contract, landlords
were able to eject tenants. As a result, peasant organizations
agitated in vain for a law that would make the contract

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automatically renewable for as long as the tenants fulfilled
their obligations.

In 1936, this Act was amended to get rid of its loophole,

but the landlords made its application relative and not
absolute. Consequently, it was never carried out in spite of
its good intentions. In fact, by 1939, thousands of peasants
in Central Luzon were being threatened with wholesale
eviction. By the early 1940s, thousands of tenants in Central
Luzon were ejected from their farmlands and the rural
conflict was more acute than ever.

Therefore, during the Commonwealth period, agrarian

problems persisted. This motivated the government to
incorporate a cardinal principle on social justice. Dictated by
the social justice program of the government, expropriation
of landed estates and other landholdings commenced.
Likewise, the National Land Settlement Administration
(NSLA) began an orderly settlement of public agricultural
lands. At the outbreak of the Second World War, major
settlement areas containing more than 65,000 hectares
were already established.

Ramon Magsaysay Administration

To amplify and stabilize the functions of the Economic

Development Corps (EDCOR), President Ramon
Magsaysay worked for the establishment of the National
Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration
(NARRA), which took over from the EDCOR and helped in the
giving of some sixty-five thousand acres to three thousand
indigent families for settlement purposes. Again, it allocated
some other twenty-five thousand to a little more than one
thousand five hundred landless families, who subsequently
became farmers.

As further aid to the rural people, [7] the president

established the Agricultural Credit and Cooperative
Administration (ACCFA). The idea was for this entity to make
available rural credits. Records show that it did grant, in this
wise, almost ten million dollars. This administration body
next devoted its attention to cooperative marketing.

Along this line of help to the rural areas, President

Magsaysay initiated in all earnestness the artesian wells

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campaign. A group-movement known as the Liberty Wells
Association was formed and in record time managed to raise
a considerable sum for the construction of as many artesian
wells as possible. The socio-economic value of the same
could not be gainsaid and the people were profuse in their
gratitude.

Finally, vast irrigation projects, as well as enhancement

of the Ambuklao Power plant and other similar ones, went a
long way towards bringing to reality the rural improvement
program advocated by President Magsaysay.

President Ramón Magsaysay enacted the following laws

as part of his Agrarian Reform Program:

 Republic Act No. 1160 of 1954 – Abolished the

LASEDECO and established the National Resettlement and
Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) to resettle
dissidents and landless farmers. It was particularly aimed
at rebel returnees providing home lots and farmlands in
Palawan and Mindanao.

 Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy Act of

1954) – Governed the relationship between landowners
and tenant farmers by organizing share-tenancy and
leasehold system. The law provided the security of tenure
of tenants. It also created the Court of Agrarian Relations.

 Republic Act No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of 1955) –

Created the Land Tenure Administration (LTA) which was
responsible for the acquisition and distribution of large
tenanted rice and corn lands over 200 hectares for
individuals and 600 hectares for corporations.

 Republic Act No. 821 (Creation of Agricultural Credit

Cooperative Financing Administration) – Provided small
farmers and share tenants loans with low interest rates of
six to eight percent.

Macapagal Administration

The Agricultural Land Reform Code (RA 3844) was a

major Philippine land reform law enacted in 1963 under
President Diosdado Macapagal.
The code declared that it was State policy:

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 1. To establish owner-cultivatorship and the economic
family-size farm as the basis of Philippine agriculture
and, as a consequence, divert landlord capital in
agriculture to industrial development;

2. To achieve a dignified existence for the small farmers

free from pernicious institutional restraints and
practices;

3. To create a truly viable social and economic structure in

agriculture conducive to greater productivity and
higher farm incomes;

4. To apply all labor laws equally and without

discrimination to both industrial and agricultural wage
earners;

5. To provide a more vigorous and systematic land

resettlement program and public land distribution; and

6. To make the small farmers more independent, self-

reliant and responsible citizens, and a source of
genuine strength in our democratic society.

and, in pursuance of those policies, established the

following:

1. An agricultural leasehold system to replace all existing

share tenancy systems in agriculture;

2. A declaration of rights for agricultural labor;

3. An authority for the acquisition and equitable

distribution of agricultural land;

4. An institution to finance the acquisition and distribution

of agricultural land;

5. A machinery to extend credit and similar assistance to

agriculture;

6. A machinery to provide marketing, management, and

other technical services to agriculture;

7. A unified administration for formulating and

implementing projects of land reform;

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 8. An expanded program of land capability survey,
classification, and registration; and

9. A judicial system to decide issues arising under this

Code and other related laws and regulations.

Marcos Administration

President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed the Code of

Agrarian Reform of the Philippines into law which established
the Department of Agrarian Reform, effectively replacing the
Land Authority.

In 1978, the DAR was renamed the Ministry of Agrarian

Reform.

On 26 July 1987, following the People Power Revolution,

the department was re-organized through Executive Order
(EO) No. 129-A.

In 1988, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law

created the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program which
is also known as CARP.

Duterte Administration

President Duterte has vowed to implement genuine

agrarian reform, and continue to provide support services for
farmers, including easy credit access from Land Bank of the
Philippines, to boost farm productivity.

The President recognized that the country was “nothing

without our farmers” who ensure food security despite
difficulties such as disasters, price fluctuations and financial
shortages.

“As President, I am privileged to implement genuine

land reform through strong and decisive governance,”
Duterte said during the ceremonial distribution of certificates
of land ownership acquisition to over a thousand land reform
beneficiaries in Sultan Kudarat.
“And with or without the talks between government and
the communist, land reform will continue to be implemented
ho. It will not end this way,” he added.

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 Duterte said he has directed concerned government
agencies to continue efforts to increase farm productivity,
reduce farm expenses and promote the wellbeing of farmers,
and the public through various programs.

“I assure you that the government stands [by] you by

every step of the way,” the President assured the country’s
farmers.

“We continue to provide support services [from] other

agencies through livelihood programs such as crop
insurance, production and postharvest trainings and credit
access — ‘yun ang pinaka-importante (that’s the most
important). Credit is where the credit is delivered to you,” he
said.

The President has also urged the Land Bank to reach

out to the farmers and extend easy credit facilities. He said
credit access was important to boost farm productivity and
strengthen the country’s agricultural sector.

“It’s almost like a commercial bank na ang Land Bank,

which is to be land, yuta, bank. Bangko para sa farmers
[Land Bank is supposed to be a land bank, bank for farmers]
and yet it has rambled on just like a commercial bank. Yang
pera na yan, bitawan na ninyo, give it to farmers [Give up
the money and give it to the farmers],” he said.

Duterte observed that agriculture remained the

“weakest link” in the economy despite the vast lands in the
countryside. This was partly due to the farmers’ inability to
obtain loans needed for seeds, fertilizers, and other farm
inputs, he added.

With the promise to sustain support services, the

President has called on farmers “to continue your noble duty
of tilling our fields and bringing food on the table of every
Filipino.” He also promised to give one to two tractors to
each agricultural cooperative in the country.

“I am one with the entire nation in paying tribute to the

industry and resilience of our farmers. Kayo ang idol ko
[You’re my idol],” he said.
Genuine Land Reform in 2018

Every October, Filipino farmers celebrate Peasant

Month coinciding with the issuance of Presidential Decree

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No. 27 by then president Ferdinand Marcos on Oct. 21, 1972.
It was supposed to be for “the emancipation of tenants from
the bondage of the soil.”

However, certain provisions of the law actually

protected the interests of landlords, such as granting them a
retention limit of seven hectares and including only tenanted
rice and corn lands. Moreover, the value of the land was
fixed at two and a half times the average harvest of three
normal crop years immediately preceding its promulgation.
It was then made to be paid for 15 years of 15 annual
payments with 6 percent interest per annum.

Because of the inherent limitations of the law in

actually giving lands to the farmers, PD 27 ultimately failed
in giving social justice to the poor peasants. It thus comes as
no surprise that they commemorate the event with a series
of protests and long marches to Mendiola. They want to
highlight the sad fact that the various so-called agrarian
reform programs by the government have failed to give
them their own land to till.

According to the Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights, “land is not a mere
commodity, but an essential element for the realization of
many human rights.” Aside from preventing them from
achieving the right to adequate food, the lack of a genuine
agrarian reform program actually prevents the farmers from
achieving their economic, social, and cultural rights (ESC)
and consequently, the right to development. These refer to
human rights relating to livelihood, social security, family
life, participation in cultural life, and access to food, water,
housing, healthcare, and education. Thus, forced
displacement of rural communities due to mining, mega
dams, or agricultural plantations result to homelessness, loss
of livelihood, and even the wellbeing of the people.

Aside from ESC rights, the fundamental right to life is

being violated by the state in its perpetuation of
landlessness among farmers. According to Karapatan, 91
farmers have been killed since President Duterte’s
presidency and many others suffered from harassment,
illegal arrest, and trumped-up charges. They experienced
these horrendous acts because they were defending the
right to own the very land they are tilling.

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 As a member of the United Nations, the Philippine
government is responsible in ensuring that every Filipino will
be able to enjoy his/her basic human rights. Hence, it is the
state’s duty to enact a genuine agrarian reform law that
guarantees land to the poorest peasant.

Land Reform Provision in the 1987 Constitution

Article 13, Section 4. The State shall, by law, undertake

an agrarian reform program founded on the right of farmers
and regular farm workers who are landless, to own directly
or collectively the lands they till or, in the case of other farm
workers, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof. To this
end, the State shall encourage and undertake the just
distribution of all agricultural lands, subject to such priorities
and reasonable retention limits as the Congress may
prescribe, taking into account ecological, developmental, or
equity considerations, and subject to the payment of just
compensation. In determining retention limits, the State
shall respect the right of small landowners. The State shall
further provide incentives for voluntary land-sharing.