AGRARIAN

REFORM
LESSON 3
AMERICAN COLONIZATION PERIOD
• The colonial government tried to solve the agrarian
problem by purchasing the “friar lands” from religious
corporations and selling them to tenants.
• Agrarian problem worsened and many tenants soon
began to resort to armed means to “get back their
land”
• Tayug Uprising in Pangasinan (1931); Sakdalista
Uprising (1935)
AMERICAN COLONIZATION PERIOD

• Quezon’s “social justice program” attempted to

stop the agrarian unrest in Central Luzon and alleviate
the poverty of the farmers
COMMONWEALTH ERA
• Quezon enacted some land reform laws during CP
- Commonwealth Act. No. 178
• He also created National Rice and Corn Corporation
(NARIC) in 1936 to control the prices of rice and corn
• Rural Program Administration office was created in
1939 – mandated to facilitate the sale or lease of the
haciendas to the tenants
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC

• Agrarian problems still remained even after the

Philippine Independence in 1946
• Agrarian unrest became part of a full-blown revolt
against the government
• HUKBALAHAP to Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan
(People’s Liberation Army)
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC (ROXAS)

• R.A. No. 34 – established 70-30 sharing arrangements

between landlord and tenants and regulated share-
tenancy contracts

• R.A. No. 55 – provided security to tenants from

arbitrary ejectment from the land they are cultivating
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC (QUIRINO)

• E. O. No. 355 – replaced the National Land Settlement

Administration to Land Settlement Development
Corporation (LASEDECO)
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC (MAGSAYSAY)
• R.A. No. 1199 or Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954 – governed
the tenant-landowner relationship by organizing the share-tenancy
and leasehold system; created Court of Agrarian Relations
• R.A. No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of 1955) and R.A. No. 821
(Creation of Agricultural Credit Cooperative Financing
Administration)
• R.A. 1400 created the Land Tenure Administration (LTA) to
handle the acquisition and distribution of large tenanted rice and
corn lands over 200 hectares for individuals and 600 hectares for
corporations
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC (MACAPAGAL)
• R.A. No. 3844 or Agricultural Land Reform Code –
heavily favored tenant farmers; included abolition of share
tenancy and provided for the leasing of agrarian lands to
farmers; also set a retention limit of 75 hectares for
landowners; invested rights of preemption and redemption
for tenant farmers; put in place an administrative machinery
for implementation; institutionalized a judicial system for
agrarian cases; and incorporated extension, marketing, and
supervised credit system of services for farmer beneficiaries
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC (MARCOS)
• Marcos declared the entire country a land reform area
through Presidential Decree No. 2
• R.A. No. 6389 or Code of Agrarian Reform – created
the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)
• DAR was renamed Ministry of Agrarian Reform in 1978
under the parliamentary system
• P.D. No. 27 – provided for tenanted lands devoted to rice
and corn to pass ownership to tenants, and lowered the
ceiling for landholding to 7 hectares
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC (C. AQUINO)
• R.A. No. 6657 or Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Law or CARL – offer lawful basis for the implementation of
the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or CARP

• The program was deemed failure since Aquino was a

member of the Cojuangco family which owned one of the
largest haciendas in Luzon – Hacienda Luisita
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC (RAMOS)

• R.A. No. 7905 – strengthened the implementation of CARP

• Limited the land conversion scheme by making certain types
of agricultural land as non- negotiable for conversion or
highly- restricted to be converted
• R.A. No. 8532 or Agrarian Reform Fund Bill – provided
additional Php50B for CARP and extended its
implementation for 10 years
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC (ESTRADA)

• E.O. No. 151 – consolidated small farm operations into

medium or large scale enterprises to qualify for long-term
capital
• Ordered DAR to plan joint projects between private
investors and the agrarian sector under his Magkabalikat Para
sa Kaunlarang Agraryo or MAGKASAKA program
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC (ARROYO)
• DAR was renamed twice: Department of Land (2004) & DAR
again (2005)
• E.O. N0. 456 instructed Department of land Reform to revert
its original names; CARL goes beyond just land reform but
includes the totality of all factors and support services designed
to lift the economic status of beneficiaries
• R.A. No. 9700 extending CARP for another 5 years beginning
July 2009; allots Php150B for the acquisition and distribution of
1.6 million hectares of land for 1.2 million beneficiaries and the
provision of support services for farmers
THIRD TO FIFTH REPUBLIC (B. AQUINO)

• Have not fared well

• a report by a NGO, the Focus on the Global South in 2013
showed a dismal performance by the DAR in land redistribution
in spite of the promise by the government to complete it by June
2014