AGRARIAN REFORM PROVISION IN THE 1987 CONSTITUTION

Article XIII
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.

ARTICLE XII

Article XII
Section 1. The goals of the national economy are a more equitable distribution of
opportunities, income, and wealth; a sustained increase in the amount of goods and
services produced by the nation for the benefit of the people; and an expanding
productivity as the key to raising the quality of life for all, especially the underprivileged.
The State shall promote industrialization and full employment based on sound
agricultural development and agrarian reform, through industries that make full and
efficient use of human and natural resources, and which are competitive in both
domestic and foreign markets. However, the State shall protect Filipino enterprises
against unfair foreign competition and trade practices.
In the pursuit of these goals, all sectors of the economy and all regions of the country
shall be given optimum opportunity to develop. Private enterprises, including
corporations, cooperatives, and similar collective organizations, shall be encouraged to
broaden the base of their ownership.
Section 2. All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other
mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and
fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State. With the exception of
agricultural lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated. The exploration,
development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and
supervision of the State. The State may directly undertake such activities, or it may
enter into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing agreements with Filipino
citizens, or corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of whose capital is
owned by such citizens. Such agreements may be for a period not exceeding twentyfive years, renewable for not more than twenty-five years, and under such terms and
conditions as may be provided by law. In cases of water rights for irrigation, water
supply fisheries, or industrial uses other than the development of water power,
beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the grant
Section 3. Lands of the public domain are classified into agricultural, forest or timber,
mineral lands and national parks. Agricultural lands of the public domain may be further
classified by law according to the uses to which they may be devoted. Alienable lands of
the public domain shall be limited to agricultural lands. Private corporations or
associations may not hold such alienable lands of the public domain except by lease,
for a period not exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for not more than twenty-five
years, and not to exceed one thousand hectares in area. Citizens of the Philippines may

lease not more than five hundred hectares, or acquire not more than twelve hectares
thereof, by purchase, homestead, or grant.
Taking into account the requirements of conservation, ecology, and development, and
subject to the requirements of agrarian reform, the Congress shall determine, by law,
the size of lands of the public domain which may be acquired, developed, held, or
leased and the conditions therefor
Article XVIII
Section 21. The Congress shall provide efficacious procedures and adequate remedies
for the reversion to the State of all lands of the public domain and real rights connected
therewith which were acquired in violation of the Constitution or the public land laws, or
through corrupt practices. No transfer or disposition of such lands or real rights shall be
allowed until after the lapse of one year from the ratification of this Constitution.
Section 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

EFFECT OF VOID CONVEYANCE

> Where the parties to a sale of a portion of the public domain covered by homestead
patent have been proven to be guilty of having effected the transaction with knowledge
of the cause of its invalidity, the sale is null and void and shall cause the reversion of the
property to the State
RULE OF PARI DELICTO NOT APPLICABLE

> The principle of in pari delicto is not applicable to cases when its application would run
counter to the an avowed public fundamental policy or to public interest

> Whether as a result of the void sale the land reverted to the State is a point between

the State and the grantee of the homestead and his heirs. In any event, the plaintiffs
right to the possession and use of the property can hardly be disputed while the
government doesnt take steps to assert its title to the
homestead.

> Reversion isnt automatic. As long as the government has not chosen to act, the rights
of the patentee stand and must be recognized in the courts of law.
REPURCHASE OF LAND BY APPLICANT OR HIS HEIRS
> Sanctioned by Section 119 of the Public Land Act
> The right to repurchase attaches to every alienation and encumbrance, and that right
can be exercised even in the absence of any stipulation in the deed of sale

> To give the homesteader or patentee every chance to preserve for himself and his
family the land that the state had gratuitously given to him as a reward for his labor in
cleaning and cultivating it

> The five-year period starts from the date of execution of the deed of sale, and not from
the date of registration in the office of the Register of Deeds. This is true even if the full
payment of the purchase price is not made on the date of conveyance unless there is
stipulation to the contrary.

A HOMESTEAD IS EXEMPT FROM CARP COVERAGE RULE WHEN HOMESTEAD

IS SUBJECT OF MORTGAGE
> The five-year period begins from the date when the deed of absolute sale is executed
and the property is formally transferred to the purchaser
REPURCHASE MAY BE BARRED BY LACHES
PROHIBITION AGAINST ALIENATION OF LANDS ACQUIRED UNDER THE
HOMESTEAD AND FREE PATENT PROVISIONS
> Section 116. Except in favor of the Government or any of its branches, units or
institutions, or legally constituted banking corporations, lands acquired under the free

patent or homestead provisions shall not be subject to encumbrance or alienation from

the date of the approval of the application and for a term of five years from and after the
date of issuance of the patent or grant, nor shall they become liable to the satisfaction of
any debt contracted prior to the expiration of said period; but the improvements or crops
on the land may be mortgaged or pledged to qualified persons, associations, or
corporations. (As amended by section 23 of Act No. 3517).

> Section 119. Except with the consent of the grantee and the approval of the Secretary
of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and solely for commercial, industrial, educational,
religious or charitable purposes or for a right of way, no corporation, association, or
partnership, may acquire or have any right, title,
interest, or property right whatsoever to any land granted under the free patent,
homestead or individual sale provisions of this Act or to any permanent improvement on
such land. (As amended by section 24 of Act. No. 3517).

> Section 120. No land originally acquired in any manner under the provisions of this
Act, nor any permanent improvement on such land, shall be encumbered, alienated, or
transferred, except to persons, corporations, associations, or partnerships who may
acquire lands of the public domain under this Act; to corporations organized in the
Philippine Islands authorized therefor by their charters, and upon express authorization
by the Philippine Legislature, to citizens of countries the laws of which grant to citizens
of the Philippine Islands the same right to acquire, hold, lease, encumber, dispose of, or
alienate land, or permanent improvements thereon, or any interest therein, as to their
own citizens, only in the manner and to the extent specified in such laws, and while the
same are in force, but not thereafter.

> Section 122. Any acquisition, conveyance, alienation, transfer, or other contract made
or executed in violation of any of the provisions of sections one hundred and sixteen,
one hundred and eighteen, one hundred nineteen, one hundred and twenty, and one
hundred and twenty-one of this act shall be unlawful and null and void from its execution
and shall produce the effect of annulling and canceling the grant, title, patent, or permit
originally issued, recognized, or confirmed, actually or presumptively, and cause the
reversion of the property and its improvements to the Government.

> Section 122(A). The provisions of sections twenty three, twenty four, thirty four, fifty
seven, one hundred and twenty, and one hundred and twenty-one of this Act, and any
other provisions or provisions restricting or tending to restrict the right of persons,

corporations, or associations to acquire, hold, lease, encumber, dispose of, or alienate

land in the Philippines, or permanent improvements thereon, or any interest therein,
shall not be applied in cases in which the right to acquire, hold or dispose of such land,
permanent improvements thereon or interests therein in the Philippine Islands is
recognized by existing treaties in favor of citizens or subjects of foreign nations and
corporations or associations organized and constituted by the same, which right in so
far as it exists under such treatise, shall continue and subsist in the manner and to the
extent stipulated in said treaties, and only while these are in force, but not thereafter.

PROHIBITION STARTS FROM DATE OF APPROVAL UP TO 5TH YEAR FROM

ISSUANCE OF PATENT
POLICY OF THE LAW

> To conserve the land which a grantee has acquired under the Public Land Act for him
and his heirs

> To give the patentee a place where to live with his family so he may become a happy
citizen and useful member of the society

APPROVAL OF SECRETARY MERELY DIRECTORY

> Its absence doesnt invalidate any alienation, transfer or conveyance of the
homestead after 5 years and before the 25- year period
COURTS HAVE JURISDICTION OVER POSSESSORY ACTIONS INVOLVING PUBLIC
LANDS
> Even pending the investigation of, and resolution on, an application by a bona fide
occupant, by the priority of his application and record of his duty, he acquires a right to
the possession of the public land he applied for against any other public land applicant,
which right may be protected by the possessory action of forcible entry or by any other
suitable remedy that our rules provide

> The grant of power and duty to alienate and dispose of the land doesnt divest the
courts of their duty or power to take cognizance of actions instituted by settlers or
occupants or applicants against others to protect their respective possessions and
occupations, more especially the actions of trespass, forcible entry and unlawful
detainer
GOVERNMENT MAY INITIATE ACTION FOR CANCELLATION OF TITLE AND
REVERSION
> Section 101 of Public Land Act provides for a remedy whereby lands of the public
domain fraudulently awarded to the applicant may be recovered or reverted back to its
original owner, the government

> Office of Solicitor General shall represent the government in all land registration and
related proceedings and institute actions for the reversion to the government of lands of
the public domain and improvements thereon as well as lands held in violation of the
Constitution

> It is improper for the government to file an action for reversion of land titled to
defendant pursuant to a free patent where the alleged fraud consists in the fact that said
land, at the time of issuance of the free patent was no longer a part of the public
domain, having been adjudicated as private property of another person in a previous
registration case

> An action for reversion on the ground that defendant obtained patent through fraud
would also fail where the land had successively been sold by the heirs of the patentee
to third parties who are holding Torrens titles and enjoying the presumption of good faith

> Private parties cannot challenge the validity of the patent and title when they are not
registered owners thereof nor had they been declared the owners as owners in the
cadastral proceedings whether the grant was in conformity with the law or not is a
question which the government may raise, but until it is raised by the government and
set aside, the defendant cannot question it. The legality of the grant is a question
between the grantee and the government.

PRIVATE PARTY CANNOT BRING ACTION FOR REVERSION

> If there has been any fraud or misrepresentation in obtaining the title, an action for
reversion instituted by the Solicitor General would be the proper remedy

ACTION FOR REVERSION NOT BARRED BY PRESCRIPTION

> Statute of limitations doesnt run against the State

ACTION FOR CANCELLATION OF TITLE

> Proper when a private party claims ownership of the land as private property by virtue
of a long period of possession and hence, no longer deemed a part of the public domain
which could be disposed of under the provisions of the Public Land Act, or when the
land is already covered by a previously issued certificate of title