Land Reform in the 21st Century: New Challenges, New Responses

This report explores how best to design and implement land reform in less-developed and transitional economies, now
and in the future. The authors discuss the potential benefits of land reform, factors that make it possible, why it is often
neglected, lessons from past land reform efforts, and the role of foreign donors and the media in promoting effective
land reform.

In this report, we define land reform broadly to include reforms that increase the ability of the rural poor and other
socially excluded groups to gain access to land and to exercise effective control over land.

Potential land reform beneficiaries in the developing world can generally be grouped into three categories: (1) rural
households who lack ownership to the land they cultivate in traditional less developed countries; (2) rural households
who live on state or collective farms in communist or formerly communist countries; and (3) rural households who
occupy public lands, or indigenous groups lacking demarcated lands.

Our principal focus in this report is upon: (1) households of agricultural laborers and insecure tenant farmers; and (2)
households of current or former collective-farm workers who lack secure land rights. These two categories columns
(c) and (d) of Table 1 comprise the great bulk of households lacking a secure and predictable relationship to the
land. This report deals only briefly with some aspects of the problems squatters and insecure traditional holders face.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF LAND REFORM

Decisively improving the relationship of cultivators to land through land reform has generally led not only to increased
crop production and improved nutrition for poor households, but can produce other crucial benefits:
ladders out of poverty and a foundation for sustained and inclusive economic growth;
grassroots empowerment and movement towards more democratic societies;
reduced social unrest and instability;
reduced urban migration;
better environmental stewardship; and
creation of wealth.

In sum, secure and stable access to land provides a foundation for better livelihoods and living conditions. It also helps
the rural poor to benefit from broad-based economic growth

A. Increased Crop Production and Nutritional Welfare

With regard to crop productivity gains, there is cogent international evidence on four points. First, smaller holdings
generally produce more than larger ones, whether measured hectare for hectare or according to total factor productivity.
Second, and related, family-operated farms generally produce more than collective farms and farms largely dependent
on wage labor. Third, on any given holding, a cultivator with ownership or secure, long-term owner-like tenure is far
more likely to make long-term capital and "sweat-equity" investments that improve and conserve the land than is a
cultivator with insecure tenure. Finally, a cultivator with ownership or owner-like tenure is more likely to use improved
(and more expensive) seeds, fertilizer, and other inputs than is a tenant in the typical tenancy arrangement where the
tenant pays for all inputs and receives only a portion of the output.
In sum, total production per hectare and total factor productivity are highest on farms owned and operated by a
single family.

B. Foundation for Economic Growth
As a broad base of agricultural families benefiting from land reform receive higher incomes, they enter the marketplace
to purchase goods and services, ranging from improved housing to schoolbooks, from bicycles to sewing machines.
This increased demand stimulates the creation of non-farm employment. Thus, a dynamic family farming sector has
significant forward and backward linkages to broader societal development. Research thus confirms that a broad-based
distribution of land assets not only benefits the poor, but becomes a solid basis for sustained and inclusive economic
growth.


C. Facilitating Democracy
Land reform, when it is implemented effectively, removes its beneficiaries from the power domain of the landlord,
plantation owner, local cadre, or collective-farm manager. Further, as land-reform beneficiaries increase their incomes
and become more economically secure and confident, their ability to participate in the political process is strengthened.

D. Reducing Instability and Conflict
In traditional developing countries, land reform has reduced political instability by eliminating basic grievances arising
from the relationship between tenants or agricultural laborers and erstwhile landowners.
Land reform can address the most basic rural grievances and increase citizen commitment to a system in which
economic and social demands are negotiated peacefully.


E. Other Benefits

Land reform can provide at least three additional benefits. First, and closely related to the point just made, many
landless families are driven by their poverty into the cities. Effective land-reform measures give landless agricultural
families a stake in their village society, reducing pressures that lead to premature and excessive urbanization.

Second, long-term, secure rights to land set the stage for environmental stewardship and sustainable farming practices.
Moreover, in specific settings such as Brazil, Indonesia or the Philippines, reallocation of secure rights to existing
cultivated land may also have an important environmental impact through forestalling landless peasants from
descending on, cutting down, and burning the forest in the desperate search for a piece of land to farm. The latter is a
form of escape parallel to the desperate flight to cities.

Third, secure land rights that are transferable also acquire a predictable market value, and can be used as collateral,
cashed out for non-agricultural investment or retirement, or passed on as wealth to the next generation.


III. WHY THEN IS LAND REFORM SO OFTEN NEGLECTED?

First, substantial land grievances, unlike ongoing development issues such as eradication of disease, family planning
and international debt, tend to arise in their conspicuous form only at discrete moments in time. Thus, the media, the
public and foreign aid agencies do not consistently focus on the need for programmatic responses. The media and
public, in particular, are sorely lacking in education on the continuing importance of meaningful land reform in
developing and transitional economies.

Second, where the land issue does finally receive some attention, it is often because it has been seized upon and
dramatized by demagogues or violent elements.
In these cases, the land reform issue, instead of being the subject of thoughtful study, planning, and response via a non-
violent and democratic alternative, is likely to generate a negative reaction as being what the bad elements want.

Third, developed countries often ignore the land reform issue because it is politically controversial among developing
country elites. Local leadership and elites in developing countries are often opposed to any serious land reform
measures because the reform may threaten, or is perceived to threaten, their individual or family interests.
Such opposition and the related political controversy and sensitivity it engenders have tended to make both bilateral
and multilateral foreign-aid agencies shy away from public focus on the land reform issue as too controversial, even
where they privately recognize its importance.

Fourth, past flawed and unsuccessful land reform efforts sometimes taint land reform and cause policymakers to
ignore it as a development option. Numerous countries have had less than successful experiences with land reform. The
lack of success is typically due to design flaws, insufficient political will, or ineffective implementation, factors which
are often interrelated.


IV. SECOND GENERATION LAND REFORMS

The comprehensive 20th Century land reforms that were carried out without collectivization played a major role in
fostering development and stability. Land reforms that led to collectivization proved almost universally to be failures.
Many countries that previously conducted collectivized land reforms are now undertaking second generation reforms
aimed at reorganizing state and collective farms into family-size units and introducing market-oriented land systems.
These second generation land reforms now appear to be playing a major beneficial role in many formerly collectivized
countries, most notably for the approximately 210 million farm households of China.

V. FACTORS THAT MAKE LAND REFORM POSSIBLE

1. Grassroots support for land reform and linkages with political parties. Building or harnessing widespread
grassroots support for land-reform measures (for example, through local civil society organizations) and
forming linkages to political parties have been important factors in determining whether land reform
measures will be adopted and whether land reform, once legislated, will actually be implemented.


2. Political will for land reform vested in a strong central authority. Political will for land reform vested in a
strong central authority, such as General MacArthur in Japan or Chiang Kai-Shek in Taiwan, has been
important in the past. Authoritative action from the center may still play a key role in settings such as China,
but in the future this variable seems likely to be of diminishing importance given the international trend
toward more democratic forms of governance.

3. The threat of strong revolutionary movements drawing support from grievances of the landless. The threat of
revolutionary uprising has sometimes played an important role in making land reform politically possible.
Willingness to seriously consider land reform in the Philippines over past decades seems to have risen along
with the fortunes of rural revolutionaries.

4. Adequate compensation paid for land expropriated. The amount of compensation paid to landowners from
whom land is taken is a critical variable. Over time, evidence has accumulated that the carrot of paying
adequate compensation to those whose land is taken can be more influential than the stick of a perceived
revolutionary threat, or land occupations.

5. Ideology. Ideology has played an important role in democratic land reform in much of Eastern Europe and
parts of the former Soviet Union. There, some post- communist governments have espoused an active policy
of decollectivization, sometimes linked to restitution of land rights to former owners of small and medium
farms (or their heirs) who lost land during collectivization. However, non-restitutive approaches that allocate
land to whomever presently works on the collective farm (whether or not they are descended from the former
owners) are likely to be far easier to administer. They are also more likely to lead to small farms that are
owner-cultivated rather than being leased-in from heirs (beneficiaries of restitution) who reside in urban
areas.

6. Public education and information. Public education can be an important factor in making land reform
possible, especially in democratic settings. Educating the public and policy makers that land reform can bring
extensive economic and social benefits may help crystallize the political will to carry out land reform.

7. Availability of technical assistance. Such technical assistance can also be crucial to the development of
training, monitoring, dispute-resolution, and other measures that help facilitate effective implementation of
land reform programs.

8. Support from international donors. Finally, external support, both for technical assistance and needed
financing, can be another important variable.

VI. LAND REFORM DESIGN: LESSONS FROM THE 20th CENTURY
A. Lessons From Traditional Less-Developed Countries
1. If land reform is to provide benefits to a substantial portion of the rural landless, there has rarely been an effective
substitute for the mandatory (but compensated) taking of private land as the basis for redistribution. Countries
sometimes pursue other alternatives, including distribution of or "resettlement" on uncultivated public lands, strict
regulation of the landlord- tenant relationship, or voluntary sale and purchase of land through land bank or market-
assisted mechanisms. Such alternatives have sometimes provided marginal benefits, but they have rarely provided
widespread beneficial impacts. Resettlement programs have generally been costly, disruptive, and environmentally
damaging.

2. The state should provide reasonable compensation to private landowners whose land is taken for redistribution.
Failure to pay reasonable compensation virtually guarantees that landlords will evade the law, cause the law to be
rescinded, or violently resist enforcement of the law. But there are also good legal and ethical arguments for reasonable
compensation, regardless of the de facto coercive power of the government.

3. If possible, land reform should be of sufficient scope and universality to reach most potential beneficiaries. This
means that agricultural laborers, tenants, and non-permanent laborers as well as permanent ones, should benefit from
the process. Benefits, however, need not be uniform. For example, in the Keralan land reform in India, tenant farmers
received full-sized parcels, while some agricultural laborers received small house-and- garden plots.

4. Providing even very small plots can produce substantial benefits.

5. The maximum per-family quantity of land allocated to beneficiaries should be the amount a family can intensively
farm with its own labor and modest capital. Some land reforms have provided per-family holdings far larger than
necessary. The distribution of large holdings can severely limit the number of potential beneficiaries. Rather than
providing an idealized holding size, it is generally better to calculate the area likely to be available under the particular
land reforms acquisition formula and divide that amount by the number of families needing land.

6. Minimize costs per beneficiary family in order to benefit the maximum number of landless rural families. Available
resources should be focused initially on the sine qua non of acquiring land for redistribution. Land reform beneficiaries
often require some ancillary support for interventions such as credit and technical assistance. However, program
designers must avoid allocating excessive resources per-family to such ancillary programs and may need to omit
entirely some costly benefits such as new housing

9. Understand, consider, and to the extent possible incorporate customary law and land tenure regimes
when undertaking land reform initiatives.

10. Avoid excessive restrictions on land sale and lease markets. In a post-reform environment, such restrictions
can have perverse results even if they are intended to protect the beneficiaries.

11. Do not force or pressure land reform beneficiaries to adopt a particular mode of organizing their farms.

12. Collect, monitor and analyze data during all phases of the program. Before completing design of the program,
designers should collect overall data regarding the number and composition of landless and land-poor
families, distribution and concentration of land ownership, as well as production, rents and income from land.



B. Lessons from Transitional Economies

1. Aim for universal or near-universal coverage of the potential beneficiaries.
2. Land market development issues are more important in second generation reforms.

3. Allow state or collective farm members to exercise various options on a continuing basis, including options to farm
collectively, to withdraw their land as part of a small group, or to withdraw their land to create a family farm.
4. Permit and foster efforts by state or collective farm members to conclude interim arrangements.

5. Permit collective farm members to withdraw a fair share of the collective farms animals, machines, and other non-
land assets together with the members share of the land.
6. Important principles of gender equality, participatory administration, program monitoring, and sensitive treatment of
customary law also apply to second generation reforms in transitional economies.

VII. NEW LAND REFORM OPTIONS IN THE 21st CENTURY

In traditional developing countries, large-scale land reform programs that redistribute a large proportion of a
countrys privately owned agricultural land to tenant farmers or landless laborers are unlikely to be politically feasible
in most (but not all) settings.

Second generation land reform programs that undo the damage caused by involuntary collectivization in the
transitional economies will continue to be a central challenge. Such programs are likely to include: (1) provision of
longer-term, more secure and transferable land rights in countries that have already decollectivized, such as China and
Vietnam; (2) measures to facilitate voluntary decollectivization in countries where that has not yet happened, such as
Russia and Ukraine; and (3) measures to introduce alternatives to collectivization for the first time in the few settings
(such as North Korea) where such alternatives do not yet exist.

In many settings, especially in transitional economies but also in some traditional developing countries, it will be
necessary to establish or strengthen land market prerequisites, including secondary institutions such as land registration
and mortgage that will help support, protect and add value to land rights.

In many traditional less developed countries, political and financial factors will likely make distribution of micro-
plots including house-and-garden plots more feasible and desirable than continuing efforts to distribute full
sized small farms.


Agricultural Land Reform Code

The Agricultural Land Reform Code (RA 3844) was a major advancement of land reform in the Philippines and was
enacted in 1963 under President Diosdado Macapagal. It abolished tenancy and established a leasehold system in which
farmers paid fixed rentals to landlords, rather than a percentage of harvest. It also established the Land Bank of the
Philippines to help with land reform, particularly the purchase of agricultural estates for division and resale to small
landholders, and the purchase of land by the agricultural lessee.[1]
While the law was a significant advance over previous legislation, though the bill was weakened by numerous
amendments imposed by Congress, which was dominated by landlords.[2] It was also weakened by the failure of
Congress to allocate necessary funds for effective implementation of the law. The act has been further amended several
times subsequent to becoming law by later legislation.

Provisions
The main provisions of the Agricultural Land Reform Code were:[4]
To establish and encourage the formation of family-sized farms as the basis for Philippine agriculture
To improve the lives of farmers by liberating them from harmful practices such as illegal interest rates
To encourage greater productivity and increase income of small farmers
To apply labor laws equally regardless of status
To provide a land settlement program and promote equitable distribution of land
To make poor farmers self-reliant, responsible citizens to strengthen society


PD 27

Section 2. After the tenant-farmer shall have fully complied with the requirements for a grant of title under Presidential
Decree No. 27, an Emancipation Patent and/or Grant shall be issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform on the
basis of a duly approved survey plan.
If the land is previously registered under the Torrens System, the Emancipation Patent and/or Grant, if filed with the
Register of Deeds, shall constitute conclusive authority for him to enter a transfer certificate of title in accordance with
such patent and/or grant: Provided, however, That the Register of Deeds, before cancelling the original of the certificate
of title and issuing a new one in favor of the grantee, shall require the registered owner or the party in possession
thereof to surrender for cancellation the owner's duplicate within a reasonable period; and Provided, further, That if the
owner or party withholding such duplicate certificate shall refuse or fail to surrender the same within thirty (30) days
from and after the date of receipt of the proper notice, the Register of Deeds shall be authorized to cancel the original as
well as the owner's duplicate certificate of title and issue in lieu thereof a new one, with the corresponding owner's
duplicate, in favor of the grantee.
If the patent or grant affects unregistered lands previously recorded under Section one, the filing of the Emancipation
Patent and/or Grant with the Register of Deeds for the province or city where the land is situated, shall forthwith bring
the land under the operation of Act 496, as amended, and the same shall thenceforth be considered registered lands. It
shall thus be the duty of the Register of Deeds, after the entry of the patent and/or grant in the corresponding
registration book, to enter an original certificate of title for such registered land, and issue an owner's duplicate
certificate to the grantee.

Emancipation patents

Emancipation patents are patents issued pursuant to Presidential Decree Nos. 27 and 266 in furtherance of the
governments policy of agrarian reform. Unlike the land patents enumerated under the Public Land Act, emancipation
patents do not cover lands of the public domain, but instead, private agricultural lands. However, with the enactment of
Republic Act No. 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, the provisions of Presidential Decree Nos. 27
and 266 have generally been superseded.
1


Emancipation Patents - a title issued to farmer-beneficiaries upon fulfillment of all government requirements covered
by Presidential Decree No 27. The title symbolizes the tiller's full emancipation from the bondage of tenancy.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 228 July 17, 1987

1
Supra note 200.
DECLARING FULL LAND OWNERSHIP TO QUALIFIED FARMER BENEFICIARIES COVERED BY
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 27: DETERMINING THE VALUE OF REMAINING UNVALUED RICE
AND CORN LANDS SUBJECT TO P.D. NO. 27; AND PROVIDING FOR THE MANNER OF PAYMENT BY
THE FARMER BENEFICIARY AND MODE OF COMPENSATION TO THE LANDOWNER

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 228 July 17, 1987
DECLARING FULL LAND OWNERSHIP TO QUALIFIED FARMER BENEFICIARIES COVERED BY
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 27: DETERMINING THE VALUE OF REMAINING UNVALUED RICE
AND CORN LANDS SUBJECT TO P.D. NO. 27; AND PROVIDING FOR THE MANNER OF PAYMENT BY
THE FARMER BENEFICIARY AND MODE OF COMPENSATION TO THE LANDOWNER
WHEREAS, Presidential Decree No. 27; for purposes of determining the cost of the land to be transferred to the tenant-
farmer; provided that valuation shall be determined by crop productivity;
WHEREAS, there is a need to complete Operation Land Transfer and accelerate the payment to the landowners of
lands transferred to tenant-farmers; and
WHEREAS, there is also a need to maintain the financial validity of the Land Bank of the Philippines, the financing
arm of the agrarian reform program of the government;
NOW THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by
the Constitution, here order that:
Sec. 1. All qualified farmer beneficiaries are now deemed full owners as of October 21, 1972 of the land they acquired
by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 27 (hereinafter referred to as P.D. No. 27).
Sec. 2. Henceforth, the valuation of rice and corn lands covered by P.D. No. 27 shall be based on the average gross
production determined by the Barangay Committee on Land Production in accordance with Department Memorandum
Circular No. 26, Series of 1973, and related issuances and regulations of the Department of Agrarian Reform. The
average gross production per hectare shall be multiplied by two and a half (2.5), the product of which shall be
multiplied by Thirty Five Pesos (P35.00), the government support price for one cavan of 50 kilos of palay on October
21, 1972, or Thirty One Pesos (P31.00), the government support price for one cavan of 50 kilos of corn on October 21,
1972, and the amount arrived at shall be the value of the rice and corn land, as the case may be, for the purpose of
determining its cost to the farmer and compensation to the landowner.
Lease rentals paid to the landowner by the farmer beneficiary after October 21, 1972, shall be considered as advance
payment for the land. In the event of dispute with the land owner regarding the amount of lease rental paid by the
farmer beneficiary, the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Barangay Committee on Land Production concerned
shall resolve the dispute within thirty (30) days from its submission pursuant to Department of Agrarian Reform
Memorandum Circular No. 26, Series of 1973, and other pertinent issuances. In the event a party questions in court the
resolution of the dispute, the landowner's compensation claim shall still be processed for payment and the proceeds
shall be held in trust by the Trust Department of the Land Bank in accordance with the provisions of Section 5 hereof,
pending the resolution of the dispute before the court.
Sec. 3. Compensation shall be paid to the landowners in any of the following modes, at the option of the landowners:
(a) Bond payment over ten (10) years, with ten percent (10%) of the value of the land payable immediately in cash, and
the balance in the form of LBP bonds bearing market rates of interest that are aligned with 90-day treasury bills rates,
net of applicable final withholding tax. One-tenth of the face value of the bonds shall mature every year from the date
of issuance until the tenth year.
The LDP bonds issued hereunder shall be eligible for the purchase of government assets to be privatized.
(b) Direct payment in cash or in kind by the farmer-beneficiaries with the terms to be mutually agreed upon by the
beneficiaries and landowners and subject to the approval of the Department of Agrarian Reform; and
(c) Other modes of payment as may be prescribed or approved by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council.
Sec. 4. All outstanding Land Bank bonds that are retained by the original landowners-payee or by their heirs, are
deemed matured up to on-twenty fifth (1/25) of their yearly face value from their date of issue to the date of this
Executive Order and may be claimed by the original landowner-payee by surrendering the bonds to the Land Bank. The
original landowner-payee may claim payment for the remaining unmatured period of the surrendered bonds under any
of the modes of compensation provided in Section 3, subsections (a) (b) or (c) hereof.
In order to meet the financial requirements mentioned in this Section, the Central Bank shall remit to the Land Bank
such sums as may b necessary from the Sinking Fund established by the Land Bank from the retirement of its bonds
and other long-term obligations and which Sinking Fund is administered by the Central Bank: Provided, however, That
there is no change in maturity of other outstanding Land Bank bonds acquired and held by transferees from original
bondholders.
The landowner is exempt from capital gains tax on the compensation paid to him under this Executive Order.
Sec. 5. In the event that the landowner does not accept payment of the compensation due him, his compensation shall
be held in trust for him by the Trust Department of the Land Bank. The cash portion of the compensation and such
portions that mature yearly shall be invested by the Trust Department only in government securities fully guaranteed by
the Republic of the Philippines. All the net earnings of the investment shall be for the benefit of the landowner, his
heirs or successors in interest.
The rights of the landowners may be exercised by his heirs upon his death.
Sec. 6. The total costs of the land including interest at the rate of six percent (6%) per annum with a two percent (2%)
interest rebate for amortizations paid on time, shall be paid by the farmer-beneficiary or his heirs to the Land Bank over
a period up to twenty (20) years in twenty (20) equal annual amortizations. Lands already valued and financed by the
Land Bank are likewise extended a 20-year period of payment of twenty (20) equal annual amortizations. However, the
farmer-beneficiary if he so elects, may pay in full before the twentieth year or may request the Land Bank to structure a
repayment period of less than twenty (20) years if the amount to be financed and the corresponding annual obligations
are well within the farmer's capacity to meet. Ownership of lands acquired by the farmer-beneficiary may be transferred
after full payment of amortizations.
Sec. 7. As of the date of this Executive Order, a lien by way of mortgage shall exist in favor of the Land Bank on all
lands it has financed and acquired by the farmer-beneficiary by virtue of P.D. No. 27 for all amortizations, both
principal and interest, due from the farmer-beneficiary or a valid transferee until the amortizations are paid in full.
Sec. 8. Henceforth, failure on the part of the farmer-beneficiary to pay three (3) annual amortizations shall be sufficient
cause for the Land Bank to foreclose on the mortgage.
Sec. 9. Thirty (30) days after final notice for payment to the defaulting tenant-farmer, a copy of which notice shall be
furnished to the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Land Bank may foreclose on the mortgage by registering a
certification under oath of its intent to foreclose with the Registry of Deeds of the city or province where the land is
located attaching thereto: a copy of the final notice for payment; proof of service to the tenant-farmer and the
Department of Agrarian Reform of the final notice for payment; and a certification that at least three (3) annual
amortizations on the land or the sum thereof remain unpaid. The mortgage is deemed foreclosed upon registration of
said documents with the Registry of Deeds.
In the event the defaulting tenant-farmer could not be served the final notice for payment, the Land Bank shall post the
notice for payment in the town hall, public market and barangay hall or any other suitable place frequented by the
public of the barangay where the defaulting tenant-farmer resides. A certification by the Land Bank to this effect will
substitute for the proof of service of the final notice of payment for purposes of foreclosure.
The Register of Deeds of all cities and provinces are directed to have a separate registry book to enter all the
requirements of foreclosure as provided herein.
Sec. 10. The tenant-farmer, or any of his compulsory heirs may lift the foreclosure within a period of two (2) years
from its registration by paying the Land Bank all unpaid amortizations on the land with interest thereon of six percent
(6%) per annum. In case of failure to lift the foreclosure within the said period, ownership of the land shall be deemed
transferred to the Land Bank.
Sec. 11. The Land Bank, not later than three (3) months after its acquisition of the land, shall sell the foreclosed land to
any interested landless farmer duly certified to as a bona fide landless farmer by the Department of Agrarian Reform of
the barangay or the two closest barangays where the land is situated. The cost of the land is the unpaid amortizations
due on the lands as of the date of the sale with interest thereon of six percent (6%) per annum. In the event that there is
more than one interested buyer, the actual buyer shall be determined by lottery in the presence of all the buyers or their
representatives and a representative of the Department of Agrarian Reform. The Deed of Conveyance executed by the
Land Bank in favor of the farmer transferee shall be registered with the Register of Deeds of the city or province where
the land is located. Ownership shall transfer to the farmer transferee only upon registration with the Registry of Deeds.
The lien of the Land Bank by way of mortgage on the remaining unpaid amortizations shall subsists on the title of the
transferee.
Sec. 12. The Land Bank, at least one (1) month prior to the sale, shall furnish the Department of Agrarian Reform with
a notice of sale and shall post a similar notice in the town hall, public market and barangay hall or any other suitable
place frequented by the public of the barangay where the property is located. The notice shall state the description of
the property subject of the sale, the price, the date and place of sale.
Sec. 13. The National Land Titles and Deeds Registration Administration is hereby authorized to issue such rules and
regulations as may be necessary relative to the registration with the Register of Deeds of all transactions/activities
required herein taking into consideration the need to protect the integrity of the Torrens System, the interests of the
parties and innocent third parties.
All transactions/activities and their corresponding documents that are registered with the Register of Deeds pursuant to
the requirements of P.D. No. 27 and this Executive Order shall be free from all documentary stamps and registration
fees.
Sec. 14. The Department of Agrarian Reform and the Land Bank are authorized to issue the additional implementing
guidelines of this Executive Order which shall not be later than sixty (60) days from the date hereof.
Sec. 15. To ensure the successful implementation of the Agrarian Reform Program, an Agrarian Reform Operating
Fund (Agrarian Fund) shall be set up by the National Government in the Land Bank. The amount of this Agrarian
Fund, to be determined by the Government Corporation Monitoring and Coordinating Committee hereinafter referred
to as GCMCC), will source the funding requirements for Land Bank to carry out the full implementation of this
program which will include the net operating losses directly and indirectly attributable to this program and the credit
facilities to farmers and farmers' organizations. Within thirty (30) days from the effectivity of this Executive Order, the
Land Bank shall submit to the GCMCC its funding requirements for 1987. Thereafter, within sixty (60) days after the
end of each calendar year, the Land Bank shall submit to the GCMCC an accounting of all drawings the Land Bank had
made against the Fund. At the same time, it will also submit its prospective funding requirements for the current year
for review and validation of the GCMCC. The amount approved by the GCMCC shall be deemed appropriate and the
amount programmed for release in coordination with the Department of Finance, Budget and Management and the
National Economic and Development Authority. Within thirty (30) days from GCMCC's approval, such funds shall be
remitted to the Land Bank for credit to the Agrarian Fund.
Sec. 16. If any part of this Executive Order is declared invalid or unconstitutional, it shall not affect any other part
thereof.
Sec. 17. All laws, presidential decrees, orders, letters of instructions, rules and regulations, and other issuances or parts
thereof inconsistent with this Executive Order are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
Sec. 18. This Executive Order shall take effect upon its signing and publication as provided by law.
DONE in the City of Manila, this 17th day of July, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and eighty-seven.



EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 129-A (July 27, 1987)
MODIFYING EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 129 REORGANIZING AND STRENGTHENING THE
DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

SECTION 1. Title. This Executive Order shall otherwise be known as the Reorganization Act of the Department of
Agrarian Reform.
SECTION 2. Reorganization. The Department of Agrarian Reform is hereby reorganized structurally and
functionally, hereinafter referred to as the Department, in accordance with the provisions of this Executive Order.
SECTION 3. Declaration of Policy. It is the declared policy of the State of completely abolish all remnants of
feudalism and all other types of unjust tenurial arrangements, implement the comprehensive agrarian reform program,
increase the productivity of the direct producers, and strengthen the agricultural base for increased industrialization.
Pursuant to this policy, the State shall:a) Establish owner-cultivated economic, family-size farms and collectively-
owned/cooperatively-cultivated farms as the foundation of Philippine agriculture;
b) Prohibit absentee land ownership;
c) Rechannel and divert landlord capital in agriculture to industrial development;
d) Assist in the preservation and conservation of prime lands for agricultural purposes;
e) Encourage the establishment and protect the autonomy and independence of institutions of farmers and farmworkers
that will safeguard their interests and ensure their dignified existence, free from pernicious restraints and practices;
f) Create just and viable socio-economic structures in agriculture conducive to greater productivity and higher incomes
through the cooperative system of production, processing, marketing, distribution, and credit services;
g) Accelerate the disposition of public alienable, disposable, and cultivable land to actual cultivators and other qualified
beneficiaries and develop agrarian communities for full utilization of land for human growth and development;
h) Institutionalize partnerships between government and organizations of farmers and farmworkers in agrarian reform
policy formulation, program implementation, and evaluation;
i) Provide specific investment opportunities, alternative employment, and other incentives for landowners affected by
agrarian reform;
j) Ensure adequate funding support for the agrarian reform program as well as timely, affordable, and appropriate
financing schemes to its beneficiaries;
k) Implement an agricultural land tax scheme that will prevent land hoarding and/or speculation.
SECTION 4. Mandate. The Department shall be responsible for implementing the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program and, for such purpose, it is authorized to:
a) Acquire, determine the value of, subdivide into family-size farms or organize into collective of cooperative farms
and develop private agricultural lands for distribution to qualified tillers, actual occupants, and displaced urban poor;
b) Administer and dispose all cultivable portions of the public domain declared as alienable and disposable for
agricultural purposes transferred to it by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources;
c) Acquire, by purchase or grant, real estate properties suited for agriculture that have been foreclosed by the national
government;
d) Undertake land consolidation, land reclamation, land forming, and conservation in areas subject to agrarian reform;
e) Facilitate the compensation of landowners covered by agrarian reform;
f) Issue emancipation patents to farmers and farmworkers who have been given lands under the agrarian reform
program as may be provided for by law;
g) Provide free legal services to agrarian reform beneficiaries and resolve agrarian conflicts and land tenure problems;
h) Develop and implement alternative land tenure systems such as cooperative farming and agro-industrial estates,
among others;
i) Undertake land use management and land development studies and projects in agrarian reform areas;
* k) Approve or disapprove the conversion, restructuring or readjustment of agricultural lands into non-agricultural
uses;
l) Monitor and evaluate the progress of agrarian reform implementation;
m) Assist the Office of the Solicitor General in providing evidence for the reversion proceedings to be filed with
respect to lands of the public domain, occupied by private individuals and their tenants or farmworkers which are
subject to land reform, and real rights connected therewith which have been acquired in violation of the Constitution or
the public land laws or through corrupt practices;
n) Submit progress reports to the Office of the President, to Congress, and to the people at the end of each year and at
all times make available to the general public information on the current status of its programs.
SECTION 5. Powers and Functions. Pursuant to the mandate the Department, and in order to ensure the successful
implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, the department is hereby authorized to:
a) Advise the President and the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council on the promulgation of executive/administrative
orders, other regulative issuances and legislative proposals designed to strengthen agrarian reform and protect the
interests of the beneficiaries thereof;
b) Implement all agrarian laws, and for this purpose, punish for contempt and issue subpoena, subpoena duces tecum,
writs of execution of its decisions, and other legal processes to ensure successful and expeditious program
implementation; the decisions of the Department may in proper cases, be appealed to the Regional Trial Courts but
shall be immediately executory notwithstanding such appeal;
c) Establish and promulgate operational policies, rules and regulations and priorities for agrarian reform
implementation;
d) Coordinate program implementation with the Land Bank of the Philippines and other relevant civilian and military
government agencies mandated to support the agrarian reform program;
e) Acquire, administer, distribute, and develop agricultural lands for agrarian reform purposes;
f) Undertake surveys of lands covered by agrarian reform;
g) Issue emancipation patents to farmers and farmworkers covered by agrarian reform for both private and public lands
and when necessary make administrative corrections of the same;
h) Provide free legal services to agrarian reform beneficiaries and resolve agrarian conflicts and land-tenure related
problems as may be provided for by law;
i) Promote the organization and development of cooperatives and other associations of agrarian reform beneficiaries;
j) Conduct continuing education and promotion programs on agrarian reform for beneficiaries, land-owners,
government personnel, and the general public;
k) Institutionalize the participation of farmers, farmworkers, other beneficiaries, and agrarian reform advocates in
agrarian reform policy formulation, program implementation, and evaluation;
l) Have exclusive authority to approve or disapprove conversion of agricultural lands for residential, commercial,
industrial, and other land uses as may be provided for by law;
m) Call upon any government agency, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) to extend full support and cooperation to program implementation;
n) Exercise such other powers and functions as may be provided for by law or directed by the President, to promote
efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of public services.

ROCLAMATION NO. 131 (July 22, 1987)
INSTITUTING A COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM

"ARTICLE II
"DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND STATE POLICIES xxx xxx xxx
"Sec. 21.
development and agrarian reform."
The State shall promote comprehensive rural
"ARTICLE XXII
"NATIONAL ECONOMY AND PATRIMONY xxx xxx xxx"Sec. 1, par. 2: The State shall promote industrialization
and full employment based on sound agricultural development and agrarian reform. . . ."
"ARTICLE XIII
"SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS xxx xxx xxx
"AGRARIAN AND NATURAL RESOURCES REFORM xxx xxx xxx
"Sec. 4. The State shall, by law, undertake an agrarian reform 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. 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
the retention limits, the State shall respect the right of small landowners. The State shall further provide incentives for
voluntary land-sharing."
"Sec.5. The State shall recognize the right of the farmers, farmworkers, and landowners, as well as cooperatives, and
other independent farmers' organizations to participate in the planning, organization, and
management of the program, and shall provide support to agriculture through appropriate technology and research, and
adequate financial production, marketing, and other support services."
"Sec. 6. The State shall apply the principles of agrarian reform or stewardship, whenever applicable in accordance with
law, in the disposition or utilization of other natural resources, including lands of the public domain under lease or
concession suitable to agriculture, subject to prior rights, homestead rights of small settlers, and the rights of indigenous
communities to their ancestral lands.
"The State may resettle landless farmers and farmworkers in its own agricultural estates which shall be distributed to
them in the manner provided by law."
xxx xxx xxx
"Sec.8.
landowners to invest the proceeds of the agrarian reform program to promote industrialization, employment creation,
and privatization of public sector enterprises. Financial instruments used as payments for their lands shallbe honored as
equity in enterprises of their choice."
"ARTICLE XVIII "TRANSITORY PROVISIONS xxx xxx xxx
The State shall provide incentives to
"Sec. 22. At the earliest possible time, the Government shall expropriate idle or abandoned agricultural lands as may be
defined by law, for distribution to the beneficiaries of the agrarian reform program."
NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON COJUANGCO AQUINO, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue
of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order:
SECTION1. Scope. Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is hereby instituted which shall cover,
regardless of tenurial arrangement and commodity produced all public and private agricultural lands as provided in the
Constitution, including whenever applicable in accordance with law, other lands of the public domain suitable to
agriculture.
SECTION2. Agrarian Reform Fund. There is hereby created a special fund, to be known as The Agrarian Reform
Fund, an initial amount of FIFTY BILLION PESOS (50,000,000, 000.00) to cover the estimated cost of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program from 1987 to 1992 which shall be sourced from the receipts of the sale of
the assets of the Asset Privatization Trust and receipts of sale of ill-gotten wealth received through the Presidential
Commission on Good Government and such other sources as government may deem appropriate. The amounts
collected and accruing to this special fund shall be considered automatically appropriated for the purpose authorized in
this Proclamation.
SECTION 3. Implementation. The provisions for the mechanisms needed initially to implement the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program are set forth in Executive Order No. 229, dated 22 July, 1987, which is a companion
measure to this Proclamation.
SECTION4. Effectivity and Repealing Clause. ThisProclamation shall take effect immediately upon its approval and
repeals or amends accordingly all laws, issuances, decrees or any part thereof inconsistent with its provisions.
APPROVED, in the City of Manila, Philippines, this 22nd day of July, 1987.


RA 6657 (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) June 10, 1988

What is the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)?
The CARP is a social justice and poverty alleviation program which seeks to empower the lives of agrarian reform
beneficiaries (ARBs) through equitable distribution and ownership of the land based on the principle of land to the
tiller. It likewise provides opportunities for a dignified and improved quality of life of the ARBs through the provision
of adequate support services for sound rural development and the establishment of economic-size farms as the basis of
Philippine agriculture.
What is the basis of CARP?
RA 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) of 1988, is the basis for the implementation of CARP.
This law embodies the state policy of processing CARP aimed at liberating the vast potential wealth of Philippine
agriculture by giving the majority of the Filipinos the real and rightful stake in the land.
What is the vision of CARP?
Equitable land ownership with empowered agrarian reform beneficiaries who are effectively managing their economic
and social development for a better quality of life..
What are the basic programs of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to help its farmers-beneficiaries?
1. Distribution of all agricultural lands regardless of tenurial arrangement and commodities produced. For non-land
distribution however, the DAR strengthens and protects the farmers security of tenure in leasehold and stock
distribution option.
2. Delivery of appropriate support services such as intensification of support services; rural enterprise development,
promotion of self-reliantlivelihood programs, continuous social marketing and advocacy campaigns.
3. Agrarian justice for agrarian-related cases (e.g. legal representation & adjudication of cases)

Who are qualified as Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs)?
Section 22 of RA 6657, states that qualified farmer beneficiaries are as follows:
a. agricultural leesses and share tenants
b. regular farmworkers
c. seasonal farmworkers
d. other land tiller
e. actual tillers or occupants of public land
f. Collective or cooperatives of the above beneficiaries; and g. Others directly working on the land
Agricultural lessees and share tenants; Regular farmworkers;
Seasonal farmworkers;
Other farmworkers;
Actual tillers or occupants of public lands;
Who can qualify as an agrarian reform beneficiary (ARB)?
In Section 22 of RA 6657, the following can qualify:
1. Landless as defined in RA 6657. One is considered landless if he/she owns less than 3 hectares of agricultural land;
2. Filipino citizen;
3. At least 15 years of age or head of the family at the time of acquisition of property; and
4. Has willingness, ability and aptitude to cultivate and make the land productive as possible.


REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7881

AN ACT AMENDING CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6657, ENTITLED "AN ACT
INSTITUTING A COMPREHENSIVE AGRARIAN REFORM PROGRAM TO PROMOTE SOCIAL
JUSTICE AND INDUSTRIALIZATION, PROVIDING THE MECHANISM FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES"


Exemptions and Exclusions

Sec. 10 of RA 6657, as amended by RA 7881 (1995), specifically enumerates the exemptions and exclusions from
CARP, as follows:

a) Lands actually, directly or exclusively used for parks and wild- life, forest reserves, reforestation, fish sanctuaries
and breeding grounds, watersheds and mangroves (Rep. Act No. 6657 [1988], sec. 10 [a], as amended by Rep. Act No.
7881[1995]).

b) Private lands actually, directly and exclusively used for prawn farms and fishponds: Provided, That said prawn
farms and fishponds have not been distributed and Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) issued to agrarian
reform beneficiaries (ARBs) under CARP (Sec. 10 [b]).

c) Lands actually, directly and exclusively used and found to be necessary for national defense, school sites and
campuses, including experimental farm stations operated by public or private schools for educational purposes, seeds
and seedling research and pilot production center, 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 (Sec. 10 [c]).

Lands devoted to raising of livestock, swine and poultry. The Luz Farms Case.

Before its amendment by RA 7881, Sec. 3(b) of RA 6657 included in its definition of agricultural activity the "raising
of livestock, poultry or fish". Likewise, the original Sec. 11 of RA 6657 on commercial farming provided that "lands
devoted to commercial livestock, poultry and swine raising shall be subject to compulsory acquisition within ten (10)
years from the effectivity of the Act." However, the Supreme Court in Luz Farms vs. Secretary of Agrarian Reform,
supra, held that Sec. 3 (b) and Sec. 11 of RA 6657 (along with Sec. 13 and 32) are unconstitutional in far as they
include the raising of livestock and swine in the coverage of CARP.

Republic Act No. 9700 amending Republic Act No. 6657 on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law 1988.

An Act strengthening the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), extending the acquisition and
distribution of all agricultural lands, instituting necessary reforms, amending for the purpose certain provisions of
Republic Act No. 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988, as amended, and
appropriating funds therefore.
This Act amends Republic Act No. 6657 on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law 1988.
It amends: section 2 regarding the declaration of principles and policies of the agrarian reform; definitions in section 3;
the scope of the comprehensive agrarian reform in section 4; section 7 on priorities of the Department of Agrarian
Reform; the title of section 16 to read Procedure for acquisition and Distribution of Private Lands; section 17 on the
determination of just compensation; sections 24-27 on provisions regarding land distribution; sections 36, 37 and 38, on
support services; section 41 on the composition of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council; section 50 on
administrative adjudication; section 55 on judicial reviews; section 63 on financing matters; sections 65, 68, 73 and 74
on prohibited acts, penalties, etc.
It also inserts new sections as follows: sections 6A and 6B on exception to retention limits and on review of limits of
land size, respectively; section 22A on orders of priority; section 37A on equal support services for rural women;
section 50A on exclusive jurisdiction on agrarian disputes.
The Act further provides for the establishment of a Congressional Oversight Committee on Agrarian Reform to oversee
and monitor the implementation of this Act, and it defines the composition of the Committee and its powers and
functions.

Section 27. Powers and Functions of the COCAR. - The COCAR shall have the following powers and functions:
(a) Prescribe and adopt guidelines which shall govern its work;
(b) Hold hearings and consultations, receive testimonies and reports pertinent to its specified concerns;
(c) Secure from any department, bureau, office or instrumentality of the government such assistance as may be needed,
including technical information, preparation and production of reports and submission of recommendations or plans as
it may require, particularly a yearly report of the record or performance of each agrarian reform beneficiary as provided
under Section 22 of Republic Act No. 6657, as amended;
(d) Secure from the DAR or the LBP information on the amount of just compensation determined to be paid or which
has been paid to any landowner;
(e) Secure from the DAR or the LBP quarterly reports on the disbursement of funds for the agrarian reform program;
(f) Oversee and monitor, in such a manner as it may deem necessary, the actual implementation of the program and
projects by the DAR;
(g) Summon by subpoena any public or private citizen to testify before it, or require by subpoena duces tecum to
produce before it such records, reports, or other documents as may be necessary in the performance of its functions;
(h) Engage the services of resource persons from the public and private sectors as well as civil society including the
various agrarian reform groups or organizations in the different regions of the country as may be needed;
(i) Approve the budget for the work of the Committee and all disbursements therefrom, including compensation of all
personnel;
(j) Organize its staff and hire and appoint such employees and personnel whether temporary, contractual or on
constancy subject to applicable rules; and
(k) Exercise all the powers necessary and incidental to attain the purposes for which it is created.


Sec. 2 RA 6657 (as amended by RA 9700) Declaration of Principles and Policies


SECTION 2. Section 3 of Republic Act No. 6657, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows: "SEC. 3.
Definitions. For the purpose of this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise: "xxx xxx xxx "(f) Farmer refers to a
natural person whose primary livelihood is cultivation of land or the production of agricultural crops, livestock and/or
fisheries either by himself/herself, or primarily with the assistance of his/her immediate farm household, whether the
land is owned by him/her, or by another person under a leasehold or share tenancy agreement or arrangement with the
owner thereof. "xxx xxx xxx "(l) Rural women refer to women who are engaged directly or indirectly in farming and/or
fishing as their source of livelihood, whether paid or unpaid, regular or seasonal, or in food preparation, managing the
household, caring for the children, and other similar activities."

Constitutional Provisions (Art. II, Sec. 9, 10, 18, 21; Art XII, Sec 6; Art. XIII, Sec 1, 2, 3, 4-8)


Section 9. The State shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of
the nation and free the people from poverty through policies that provide adequate social services, promote full
employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all.

Section 10. The State shall promote social justice in all phases of national development.

Section 18. The State affirms labor as a primary social economic force. It shall protect the rights of workers and
promote their welfare.

Section 21. The State shall promote comprehensive rural development and agrarian reform.


Section 6. The use of property bears a social function, and all economic agents shall contribute to the common good.
Individuals and private groups, including corporations, cooperatives, and similar collective organizations, shall have
the right to own, establish, and operate economic enterprises, subject to the duty of the State to promote distributive
justice and to intervene when the common good so demands.


Section 1. The Congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of
all the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by
equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good.
To this end, the State shall regulate the acquisition, ownership, use, and disposition of property and its increments.

Section 2. The promotion of social justice shall include the commitment to create economic opportunities based on
freedom of initiative and self-reliance.

LABOR

Section 3. The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote
full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all.
It shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful
concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law. They shall be entitled to security of tenure,
humane conditions of work, and a living wage. They shall also participate in policy and decision-making processes
affecting their rights and benefits as may be provided by law.

The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility between workers and employers and the preferential use
of voluntary modes in settling disputes, including conciliation, and shall enforce their mutual compliance therewith to
foster industrial peace.

The State shall regulate the relations between workers and employers, recognizing the right of labor to its just share in
the fruits of production and the right of enterprises to reasonable returns to investments, and to expansion and growth.

AGRARIAN AND NATURAL RESOURCES REFORM

Section 4. 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. 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.
Section 5. The State shall recognize the right of farmers, farmworkers, and landowners, as well as cooperatives, and
other independent farmers' organizations to participate in the planning, organization, and management of the program,
and shall provide support to agriculture through appropriate technology and research, and adequate financial,
production, marketing, and other support services.

Section 6. The State shall apply the principles of agrarian reform or stewardship, whenever applicable in accordance
with law, in the disposition or utilization of other natural resources, including lands of the public domain under lease or
concession suitable to agriculture, subject to prior rights, homestead rights of small settlers, and the rights of indigenous
communities to their ancestral lands.

The State may resettle landless farmers and farmworkers in its own agricultural estates which shall be distributed to
them in the manner provided by law.

Section 7. The State shall protect the rights of subsistence fishermen, especially of local communities, to the
preferential use of the communal marine and fishing resources, both inland and offshore. It shall provide support to
such fishermen through appropriate technology and research, adequate financial, production, and marketing assistance,
and other services. The State shall also protect, develop, and conserve such resources. The protection shall extend to
offshore fishing grounds of subsistence fishermen against foreign intrusion. Fishworkers shall receive a just share from
their labor in the utilization of marine and fishing resources.

Section 8. The State shall provide incentives to landowners to invest the proceeds of the agrarian reform program to
promote industrialization, employment creation, and privatization of public sector enterprises. Financial instruments
used as payment for their lands shall be honored as equity in enterprises of their choice.