Outline of RA 6657 As Amended
Outline of RA 6657 As Amended
Outline of RA 6657 As Amended
6657, AS AMENDED)
II. Introduction
A. Constitutional Basis
1. Article II, Section 21: The State shall promote comprehensive rural development and
agrarian reform.
2. Article XII, Section 1: . . . The State shall promote industrialization and full employment
based on sound agricultural development and agrarian reform, . . .
3. Article XIII, Section 3: . . . 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 on investments, and to expansion and
growth.
4. 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.
aHTDAc
5. Article XIII, 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.
6. Article XIII, 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 agriculture
estates which shall be distributed to them in the manner provided by law.
7. Article XIII, 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.
It is the policy of the State to pursue a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The
welfare of the landless farmers and farmworkers will receive the highest consideration to
promote social justice and to move the nation toward sound rural development and
industrialization, and the establishment of owner cultivatorship of economic-size farms as the
basis of Philippine agriculture. SITCcE
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:
Provided, That the conversion of agricultural lands into industrial, commercial or residential
lands shall take into account, tillers' rights and national food security. Further, the State shall
protect Filipino enterprises against unfair foreign competition and trade practices.
The State recognizes that there is not enough agricultural land to be divided and distributed to
each farmer and regular farmworker so that each one can own his/her economic size family
farm. This being the case, a meaningful agrarian reform program to uplift the lives and economic
status of the farmer and his/her children can only be achieved through simultaneous
industrialization aimed at developing a self-reliant and independent national economy
effectively controlled by Filipinos.
To this end, the State may, in the interest of national welfare or defense, establish and operate
vital industries.
A more equitable distribution and ownership of land, with due regard to the rights of
landowners to just compensation, retention rights under Section 6 of Republic Act No. 6657, as
amended, and to the ecological needs of the nation, shall be undertaken to provide farmers and
farmworkers with the opportunity to enhance their dignity and improve the quality of their lives
through greater productivity of agricultural lands.
The agrarian reform program is 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 the priorities and retention
limits set forth in this Act, taking into account ecological, developmental, and equity
considerations, and subject to the payment of just compensation. The State shall respect the
right of small landowners, and shall provide incentive for voluntary land sharing.
The State shall recognize and enforce, consistent with existing laws, the rights of rural women to
own and control land, taking into consideration the substantive equality between men and
women as qualified beneficiaries, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof, and to be
represented in advisory or appropriate decision-making bodies. These rights shall be
independent of their male relatives and of their civil status.
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 farm workers in its own agricultural estates, which
shall be distributed to them in the manner provided by law.
By means of appropriate incentives, the State shall encourage the formation and maintenance of
economic size family farms to be constituted by individual beneficiaries and small landowners.
LibLex
The State shall protect the rights of subsistence fishermen, especially of local communities, to
the preferential use of 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.
The State shall be guided by the principles that land has a social function and land ownership has
a social responsibility. Owners of agricultural land have the obligation to cultivate directly or
through labor administration the lands they own and thereby make the land productive.
The State shall provide incentives to landowners to invest the proceeds of the agrarian reform
program to promote industrialization, employment and privatization of public sector enterprises.
Financial instruments used as payment for lands shall contain features that shall enhance
negotiability and acceptability in the marketplace.
The State may lease undeveloped lands of the public domain to qualified entities for the
development of capital intensive farms, and traditional and pioneering crops especially those for
exports subject to the prior rights of the beneficiaries under this Act.
C. Definition of Agrarian Reform
* Land Reform is the physical redistribution of land such as the program under
Presidential Decree No. 27. Agrarian reform means the redistribution of lands
including the totality of factors and support services designed to lift the economic
status of the beneficiaries. Thus, agrarian reform is broader than land reform.
D. RA 6657 is Constitutional
In the case of Association of Small Landowners in the Philippines, Inc. v. Secretary of Agrarian
Reform, 1 the Supreme Court held:
"The cases before us present no knotty complication insofar as the question of compensable
taking is concerned. To the extent that the measures under challenge merely prescribe retention
limits for landowners, there is an exercise of the police power for the regulation of private
property in accordance with the Constitution. But where, to carry out such regulation, it
becomes necessary to deprive such owners of whatever lands they may own in excess of the
maximum area allowed, there is definitely a taking under the power of eminent domain for
which payment of just compensation is imperative. The taking contemplated is not a mere
limitation of the use of the land. What is required is the surrender of the title to and the physical
possession of the said excess and all beneficial rights accruing to the owner in favor of the
farmer-beneficiary. This is definitely an exercise not of the police power but of the power of
eminent domain.
"Classification has been defined as the grouping of persons or things similar to each other in
certain particulars and different from each other in these same particulars. To be valid, it must
conform to the following requirements: (1) it must be based on substantial distinctions; (2) it
must be germane to the purpose of the law; (3) it must not be limited to existing conditions only;
and (4) it must apply equally to all the members of the class. The Court finds that all these
requisites have been met by the measures here challenged as arbitrary and discriminatory.
aAcDSC
"Equal protection simply means that all persons or things similarly situated must be treated alike
both as to the rights conferred and the liabilities imposed. The petitioners have not shown that
they belong to a different class and entitled to a different treatment. The argument that not only
landowners but also owners of other properties must be made to share the burden of
implementing land reform must be rejected. There is a substantial distinction between these two
classes of owners that is clearly visible except to those who will not see. There is no need to
elaborate on this matter. In any event, the Congress is allowed a wide leeway in providing for a
valid classification. Its decision is accorded recognition and respect by the courts of justice except
only where its discretion is abused to the detriment of the Bill of Rights.
"It is worth remarking at this juncture that a statute may be sustained under the police power
only if there is a concurrence of the lawful subject and the lawful method. Put otherwise, the
interests of the public generally as distinguished from those of a particular class require the
interference of the State and, no less important, the means employed are reasonably necessary
for the attainment of the purpose sought to be achieved and not unduly oppressive upon
individuals. As the subject and purpose of agrarian reform have been laid down by the
Constitution itself, we may say that the first requirement has been satisfied. What remains to be
examined is the validity of the method employed to achieve the Constitutional goal.
"Eminent domain is an inherent power of the State that enables it to forcibly acquire private
lands intended for public use upon payment of just compensation to the owner. Obviously, there
is no need to expropriate where the owner is willing to sell under terms also acceptable to the
purchaser, in which case an ordinary deed of sale may be agreed upon by the parties. It is only
where the owner is unwilling to sell, or cannot accept the price or other conditions offered by
the vendee, that the power of eminent domain will come into play to assert the paramount
authority of the State over the interest of the property owner. Private rights must then yield to
the irresistible demands of the public interest on the time-honored justification, as in the case of
the police power, that the welfare of the people is the supreme law.
"But for all its primacy and urgency, the power of expropriation is by no means absolute (as
indeed no power is absolute). The limitation is found in the constitutional injunction that
"private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation" and in the
abundant jurisprudence that has evolved from the interpretation of this principle. Basically, the
requirements for a proper exercise of the power are: (1) public use and (2) just compensation.
"[T]he determination of just compensation is a function addressed to the courts of justice and
may not be usurped by any other branch or official of the government. EPZA v. Dulay resolved a
challenge to several decrees promulgated by President Marcos providing that the just
compensation for property under expropriation should be either the assessment of the property
by the government or the sworn valuation thereof by the owner, whichever was lower.
"With these assumptions, the Court hereby declares that the content and manner of the just
compensation provided for in the afore-quoted Section 18 of the CARP Law is not violative of the
Constitution. We do not mind admitting that a certain degree of pragmatism has influenced our
decision on this issue, but after all this Court is not a cloistered institution removed from the
realities and demands of society or oblivious to the need for its enhancement. The Court is as
acutely anxious as the rest of our people to see the goal of agrarian reform achieved at last after
the frustrations and deprivations of our peasant masses during all these disappointing decades.
We are aware that invalidation of said section will result in the nullification of the entire
program, killing the farmer's hopes even as they approach realization and resurrecting the
specter of discontent and dissent in the restless countryside. That is not in our view the intention
of the Constitution, and that is not what we shall decree today. TDAHCS
"Accepting the theory that payment of the just compensation is not always required to be made
fully in money, we find further that the proportion of cash payment to the other things of value
constituting the total payment, as determined on the basis of the areas of the lands
expropriated, is not unduly oppressive upon the landowner. It is noted that the smaller the land,
the bigger the payment in money, primarily because the small landowner will be needing it more
than the big landowner, who can afford a bigger balance in bonds and other things of value. No
less importantly, the government financial instruments making up the balance of the payment
are "negotiable at any time." The other modes, which are likewise available to the landowner at
his option, are also not unreasonable because payment is made in shares of stock, LBP bonds,
other properties or assets, tax credits, and other things of value equivalent to the amount of just
compensation."
II. Scope
A. Lands Covered
1. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 shall cover, regardless of tenurial
arrangement and commodity produced, ALL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AGRICULTURAL LANDS
as provided in Proclamation No. 131 and Executive Order No. 229, including other lands
of the public domain suitable for agriculture: Provided, That landholdings of landowners
with a total area of five (5) hectares and below shall not be covered for acquisition and
distribution to qualified beneficiaries. [Section 4]
2. Specifically, the following lands are covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program:
a. All alienable and disposable lands of the public domain devoted to or suitable
for agriculture. No reclassification of forest or mineral lands to agricultural lands
shall be undertaken after the approval of this Act until Congress, taking into
account ecological, developmental and equity considerations, shall have
determined by law, the specific limits of the public domain;
b. All lands of the public domain in excess of the specific limits as determined by
Congress in the preceding paragraph;
c. All other lands owned by the Government devoted to or suitable for
agriculture; and
1. Under Section 10, 2 excluded from the coverage of the CARL are lands actually,
directly and exclusively used for:
a. Parks;
b. Wildlife;
c. Forest reserves;
d. Reforestation;
2. Private lands actually, directly and exclusively used for prawn farms and fishponds
shall be exempt from the coverage of this Act: Provided, That said prawn farms and
fishponds have not been distributed and Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA)
issued to agrarian reform beneficiaries under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program.
In cases where the fishponds or prawn farms have been subjected to the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, by voluntary offer to sell, or commercial farms
deferment or notices of compulsory acquisition, a simple and absolute majority of the
actual regular workers or tenants must consent to the exemption within one (1) year
from the effectivity of this Act. When the workers or tenants do not agree to this
exemption, the fishponds or prawn farms shall be distributed collectively to the worker
beneficiaries or tenants who shall form a cooperative or association to manage the
same.
3. Likewise, excluded from the coverage of the CARL are lands actually, directly and
exclusively used and found to be necessary for:
a. National defense;
g. Penal colonies and penal farms actually worked by the inmates; and
4. All lands with eighteen percent (18%) slope and over which are not developed for
agriculture are exempted from the coverage of CARL.
5. In the case of Luz Farms v. Secretary of Agrarian Reform, 3 the Supreme Court has
excluded agricultural lands devoted to commercial livestock, poultry and swine raising
from the coverage of CARL. aSEHDA
"The questions were answered and explained in the statement of the then
Commissioner Tadeo, quoted as follows:
"It is evident from the foregoing discussion that Section 11 of RA 6657 which
includes "private agricultural lands devoted to commercial livestock, poultry and
swine raising" in the definition of "commercial farms" is invalid, to the extent that
the aforecited agro-industrial activities are made to be covered by the agrarian
reform program of the State. There is simply no reason to include livestock and
poultry lands in the coverage of agrarian reform. (Rollo, p. 21). EAHDac
1. The DAR, in coordination with the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) shall
plan and program the final acquisition and distribution of all remaining unacquired and
undistributed agricultural lands from the effectivity of this Act until June 30, 2014.
B. Priorities [Section 7]
1. Guiding Principle: In effecting the transfer, priority must be given to lands that are
tenanted.
3. Phases of Implementation
Phase One: During the five (5)-year extension period hereafter all remaining lands
above fifty (50) hectares shall be covered for purposes of agrarian reform upon the
effectivity of this Act. All private agricultural lands of landowners with aggregate
landholdings in excess of fifty (50) hectares which have already been subjected to a
notice of coverage issued on or before December 10, 2008; rice and corn lands under
Presidential Decree No. 27; all idle or abandoned lands; all private lands voluntarily
offered by the owners for agrarian reform: Provided, That with respect to voluntary land
transfer, only those submitted by June 30, 2009 shall be allowed: Provided, further, That
after June 30, 2009, the modes of acquisition shall be limited to voluntary offer to sell
and compulsory acquisition: Provided, furthermore, That all previously acquired lands
wherein valuation is subject to challenge by landowners shall be completed and finally
resolved pursuant to Section 17 of Republic Act No. 6657, as amended: Provided, finally,
as mandated by the Constitution, Republic Act No. 6657, as amended, and Republic Act
No. 3844, as amended, only farmers (tenants or lessees) and regular farmworkers
actually tilling the lands, as certified under oath by the Barangay Agrarian Reform Council
(BARC) and attested under oath by the landowners, are the qualified beneficiaries. The
intended beneficiary shall state under oath before the judge of the city or municipal
court that he/she is willing to work on the land to make it productive and to assume the
obligation of paying the amortization for the compensation of the land and the land taxes
thereon; all lands foreclosed by government financial institutions; all lands acquired by
the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG); and all other lands owned by
the government devoted to or suitable for agriculture, which shall be acquired and
distributed immediately upon the effectivity of this Act, with the implementation to be
completed by June 30, 2012. DTSaHI
Phase Two: (a) Lands twenty four (24) hectares up to fifty (50) hectares shall
likewise be covered for purposes of agrarian reform upon the effectivity of this Act. All
alienable and disposable public agricultural lands; all arable public agricultural lands
under agro forest, pasture and agricultural leases already cultivated and planted to crops
in accordance with Section 6, Article XIII of the Constitution; all public agricultural lands
which are to be opened for new development and resettlement: and all private
agricultural lands of landowners with aggregate landholdings above twenty four (24)
hectares up to fifty (50) hectares which have already been subjected to a notice of
coverage issued on or before December 10, 2008, to implement principally the rights of
farmers and regular farmworkers, who are landless, to own directly or collectively the
lands they till, which shall be distributed immediately upon the effectivity of this Act,
with the implementation to be completed by June 30, 2012; and
(b) All remaining private agricultural lands of landowners with aggregate landholdings
in excess of twenty four (24) hectares, regardless as to whether these have been
subjected to notices of coverage or not, with the implementation to begin on July 1, 2012
and to be completed by June 30, 2013.
Phase Three: All other private agricultural lands commencing with large
landholdings and proceeding to medium and small landholdings under the following
schedule:
(a) Lands of landowners with aggregate landholdings above ten (10) hectares up to
twenty four (24) hectares, insofar as the excess hectarage above ten (10) hectares is
concerned, to begin on July 1, 2012 and to be completed by June 30, 2013; and
(b) Lands of landowners with aggregate landholdings from the retention limit up to
ten (10) hectares, to begin on July 1, 2013 and to be completed by June 30, 2014; to
implement principally the right of farmers and regular farmworkers who are landless, to
own directly or collectively the lands they till.
The PARC shall establish guidelines to implement the above priorities and
distribution scheme, including the determination of who are qualified beneficiaries:
Provided, That an owner-tiller may be a beneficiary of the land he/she does not own but
is actually cultivating to the extent of the difference between the area of the land he/she
owns and the award ceiling of three (3) hectares: Provided, further, That collective
ownership by the farmer beneficiaries shall be subject to Section 25 of Republic Act No.
6657, as amended: Provided, furthermore, That rural women shall be given the
opportunity to participate in the development planning and implementation of this Act:
Provided, finally, That in no case should the agrarian reform beneficiaries' sex, economic,
religious, social, cultural and political attributes adversely affect the distribution of lands.
ATcaID
1. Land acquisition and distribution shall be completed by June 30, 2014 on a province-
by-province basis. In any case, the PARC or the PARC Executive Committee (PARC
EXCOM), upon recommendation by the Provincial Agrarian Reform Coordinating
Committee (PARCCOM), may declare certain provinces as priority land reform areas, in
which case the acquisition and distribution of private agricultural lands therein under
advanced phases may be implemented ahead of the above schedules on the condition
that prior phases in these provinces have been completed: Provided, That
notwithstanding the above schedules, phase three (b) shall not be implemented in a
particular province until at least ninety percent (90%) of the provincial balance of that
particular province as of January 1, 2009 under Phase One, Phase Two (a), Phase Two (b),
and Phase Three (a), excluding lands under the jurisdiction of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), have been successfully completed. The
PARC, upon recommendation of the PARCCOM, may declare certain provinces or regions
as priority land reform areas, in which case the acquisition and distribution of private
agricultural lands therein may be implemented ahead of schedule. [Section 7]
2. The PARC may suspend the implementation of CARL with respect to ancestral lands
for purpose of identifying and delineating such lands. [Section 9]
1. Tenancy in General
* The two tenancy systems are distinct and different from each other. In
sharehold, the tenant may choose to shoulder, in addition to labor, any one or
more of the items of contributions (such as farm implements, work animals, final
harrowing, transplanting), while in leasehold, the tenant or lessee always
shoulders all items of production except the land. Under the sharehold system,
the tenant and the landholder are co-managers, whereas in leasehold, the tenant
is the sole manager of the farmholding. Finally, in sharehold tenancy, the tenant
and the landholder divide the harvest in proportion to their contributions, while
in leasehold tenancy, the tenant or lessee gets the whole produce with the mere
obligation to pay a fixed rental. [People v. Adillo] 5 cCaSHA
Sharehold Leasehold
Expenses of Production Tenant and Landowner Tenant
Management Tenant and Landowner Tenant
Payment Tenant and landowner Tenant gets
the whole
divide the harvest in produce with
the
proportion to their mere
obligation to
contributions. pay rent.
3. Leasehold vs. Civil Lease
2. Period for Compliance: Within ninety (90) days from effectivity of CARL
a. Three percent (3%) of the gross sales from the production of such lands;
TcEaAS
b. Distributed within sixty (60) days of the end of the fiscal year;
e. If profit is realized, an additional ten percent (10%) of the net profit after tax
shall be distributed to the regular and other farmworkers within ninety (90) days
of the end of the fiscal year.
V. Registration
A. Within 180 days from the effectivity of CARL, landowners, natural or juridical, shall file a
sworn statement in the assessor's office the following information:
b. the average gross income from the property for at least 3 years;
d. the crops planted in the property and the area covered by the crop as of June 1, 1987;
f. the latest declared market value of the land as determined by the city or provincial
assessor. (Section 14)
B. The DAR, in coordination with the Barangay Agrarian Reform Committee (BARC) shall register
all agricultural lessees, tenants and farmworkers who are qualified to be beneficiaries under the
CARL. These potential beneficiaries shall provide the following data:
b. owners and administrators of the lands they work on and the length of tenurial
relationship;
1. Five hectares is the retention limit. No person may own or retain, directly or indirectly,
any public or private agricultural land, the size of which shall vary according to factors
governing a viable family-sized farm, such as commodity produced, terrain,
infrastructure, and soil fertility as determined by the Presidential Agrarian Reform
Council (PARC), but in no case shall the retention limit exceed five (5) hectares. DTEHIA
2. Additional three hectares may be awarded to each child, subject to the following
qualifications:
b. That the child is actually tilling the land or directly managing the farm.
b. Original homestead grantees or direct compulsory heirs who still own the
original homestead at the time of the approval of CARL, as long as they continue
to cultivate said homestead.
The right to choose the area to be retained, which shall be compact or contiguous,
shall pertain to the landowner. If the land retained is tenanted, the tenant shall have the
option to choose whether to remain therein or be a beneficiary in the same or another
agricultural land. In case the tenant chooses to remain in the retained area, he shall be
considered a leaseholder and shall lose his right to be a beneficiary under this Act. In case
the tenant chooses to be a beneficiary in another agricultural land, he loses his right as a
leaseholder to the land retained by the landowner. The tenant must exercise this option
within a period of one (1) year from the time the landowner manifests his choice of the
area for retention.
B. Procedure
a. Must be submitted to the DAR within one year from effectivity of the CARL;
b. Must not be less favorable to the transferee than those of the government's
standing; and
c. Shall include sanctions for non-compliance by either party and shall be duly
recorded and its implementation monitored by the DAR.
a. Notice to acquire the land shall be sent to the landowner and the beneficiaries.
The notice shall also be posted in a conspicuous place in the municipal building
and the barangay hall of the place where the property is located.
b. Within thirty (30) days from receipt of the written notice, the landowner shall
inform the DAR of his acceptance or rejection of the offer.
c. If the offer is accepted, the LBP pays the landowner and within thirty (30) days,
the landowner executes and delivers a deed of transfer to the Government and
surrenders the Certificate of Title and other muniments of title.
f. Registration with the Register of Deeds for the issuance of Transfer Certificate
of Title in the name of the Republic of the Philippines.
g. Standing Crops: The landowner shall retain his share of any standing crops
unharvested at the time the DAR shall take possession of the land and shall be
given reasonable time to harvest the same [Section 28].
C. Compensation
In determining just compensation, the cost of acquisition of the land, the value of
the standing crop, the current value of like properties, its nature, actual use and income,
the sworn valuation by the owner, the tax declarations, the assessment made by
government assessors, and seventy percent (70%) of the zonal valuation of the Bureau of
Internal Revenue (BIR), translated into a basic formula by the DAR shall be considered,
subject to the final decision of the proper court. The social and economic benefits
contributed by the farmers and the farmworkers and by the Government to the property
as well as the nonpayment of taxes or loans secured from any government financing
institution on the said land shall be considered as additional factors to determine its
valuation [Section 17].
2. Under EO 405 (1990), Land Bank of the Philippines shall be primarily responsible for
the determination of the land valuation and compensation.
ii. Tax credits which can be used against any tax liability;
iii. Land Bank of the Philippines Bonds which shall have the following
features:
* Ten percent (10%) of the face value of the bonds shall mature
every year from the date of issuance until the tenth year; and
c. Set-off
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 [Section 3 (l)].
1. Beneficiaries under Presidential Decree No. 27 who have culpably sold, disposed of, or
abandoned their land;
* The mere fact that the expected quantity of harvest, as visualized and
calculated by agricultural experts, is not actually realized, or that the harvest did
not increase, is not a sufficient basis for concluding that the tenants failed to
follow proven farm practices. [Belmi v. CAR] 7
* Under the CARL, a beneficiary is landless if he owns less than three (3) hectares
of agricultural land. [Section 25]
4. Beneficiaries whose land have been the subject of foreclosure by the Land Bank of the
Philippines. [Section 26] SacDIE
* Under the CARL, the LBP may foreclose on the mortgage for non-payment of
the beneficiary of an aggregate of three (3) annual amortizations. [Section 26]
C. Awards
1. Emancipation Patents (EPs) are issued for lands covered under Operation Land
Transfer (OLT) of Presidential Decree No. 27.
2. Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) are issued for private agricultural lands
and resettlement areas covered under Republic Act No. 6657, otherwise known as the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988.
* Under Section 15 of EO 229 (1987), all alienable and disposable lands of the
public domain suitable for agriculture and outside proclaimed settlements shall
be redistributed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR).
4. Certificates of Stewardship Contracts are issued for forest areas under the Integrated
Social Forestry Program.
1. Lands awarded shall be paid by the beneficiaries to the LBP in thirty (30) annual
amortizations at six percent (6%) interest per annum. The payments for the first three (3)
years after the awards may be at reduced amounts as established by the PARC: Provided,
That the first five (5) annual payments may not be more than five percent (5%) of the
value of the annual gross production as established by the DAR. Should the scheduled
annual payments after the fifth year exceed ten percent (10%) of the annual gross
production and the failure to produce accordingly is not due to the beneficiary's fault, the
LBP may reduce the interest rate or reduce the principal obligation to make the
repayment affordable.
c. First five (5) annual payments may not be more than five percent (5%) of the
value of the annual gross production.
* If the land is sold to the government or to the LBP, the children or the spouse of
the transferee shall have a right to repurchase within a period of two (2) years.
* Corporate farms are farms which are owned or operated by corporations or other
business associations. [Section 29]
B. Distribution
1. Land Transfer (Voluntarily Offer to Sell or Compulsory Acquisition)
iii. Any share acquired by the beneficiaries shall have the same rights and
features as all other shares; and
1. Irrigation facilities;
2. Infrastructure development and public works projects in areas and settlements that
come under agrarian reform;
10. Assistance in the identification of ready markets for agricultural produce and training
in other various aspects of marketing; and
4. Infrastructure such as access trail, mini-dams, public utilities, marketing and storage
facilities; and
5. Research, production and use of organic fertilizers and other local substances
necessary in farming and cultivation.
2. Facilities, programs and schemes for the conversion or exchange of bonds issued for
payment of the lands acquired with stocks and bonds issued by the National
Government, the Central Bank and other government institutions and instrumentalities;
4. Other services designed to utilize productively the proceeds of the sale of such lands
for rural industrialization;
6. Redemption by the LBP of up to thirty percent (30%) of the face value of its bonds for
landowners who will invest the proceeds of the redemption in a BOI-registered company
or in any agri-business or agro-industrial enterprise in the region where they have
previously made investments.
D. Funding
* At least twenty-five percent (25%) of all appropriations for agrarian reform shall be
immediately set aside and made available for support services. In addition, the DAR shall
be authorized to package proposals and receive grants, aid and other forms of financial
assistance from any source. [Section 36]
B. Logging and Mining Concessions: Subject to the requirement of a balanced ecology and
conservation of water resources, suitable areas in logging, mining and pasture areas, shall be
opened up for agrarian settlements whose beneficiaries shall be required to undertake
reforestation and conservation production methods.
* Certificates of Stewardship Contracts are issued for forest areas under the Integrated
Social Forestry Program.
C. Sparsely Occupied Public Agricultural Lands: Sparsely occupied agricultural lands of the public
domain shall be surveyed, proclaimed and developed as farm settlements for qualified landless
people.
* Uncultivated lands of the public domain shall be made available on a lease basis to
interested and qualified parties. Priority shall be given to those who will engage in the
development of capital-intensive, traditional or pioneering crops.
D. Idle, Abandoned, Foreclosed and Sequestered Lands: Idle, abandoned, foreclosed and
sequestered lands shall be planned for distribution as home lots and family-size farmlots to
actual occupants. If land area permits, other landless families shall be accommodated in these
lands. ESTCHa
E. Rural Women: All qualified women members of the agricultural labor force must be
guaranteed and assured equal rights to ownership of the land, equal shares of the farm's
produce, and representation in advisory or appropriate decision-making bodies.
F. Veterans and Retirees: Landless war veterans and veterans of military campaigns, their
surviving spouses and orphans, retirees of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the
Integrated National Police, returnees, surrenderees and similar beneficiaries shall be given due
consideration in the disposition of agricultural lands of the public domain.
G. Agriculture Graduates: Graduates of agricultural schools who are landless shall be assisted by
the government in their desire to own and till agricultural lands.
c. Members:
i. Secretary of Agriculture;
xiii. Six (6) representatives of agrarian reform beneficiaries, two (2) each
from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, provided that one of them shall be
from cultural communities.
c. Schedule the acquisition and distribution of specific agrarian reform areas; and
a. There shall be an Executive Committee of the PARC which shall meet and
decide on any and all matters in between meetings of the PARC: Provided,
however, That its decision must be reported to the PARC immediately and not
later than the next meeting.
b. Composition: The Secretary of Agrarian Reform shall be the Chairman and its
members shall be designated by the President, taking into account Article XIII,
Section 5 of the Constitution (Rights of farmers to participate in the planning,
organization and management of the CARP).
c. Members:
vii. In areas where there are cultural communities, there shall be one
representative from them.
* The BARC shall be operated on a self-help basis and will be composed of the
following:
g. Representatives of landowners;
D. Others
2. The PARC, in the exercise of its functions, is hereby authorized to call upon the
assistance and support of other government agencies, bureaus and offices, including
government-owned or controlled corporations. [Section 69]
2. DAR Adjudicator
ii. Receives, hears and adjudicates cases which the PARAD cannot handle
because the latter is disqualified or inhibits himself or because the case is
complex or sensitive
1. The DAR shall not take cognizance of any agrarian dispute or controversy unless a
certification from the BARC that the dispute has been submitted to it for mediation and
conciliation without any success of settlement is presented. [Section 53]
a. Failure of the BARC to issue a certification within thirty (30) days after a matter
or issue is submitted to it;
b. The required certification cannot be complied with for valid reasons like the
non-existence or non-organization of the BARC or the impossibility of convening
it. A certification to that effect may be issued by the proper agrarian reform
officer in lieu of the BARC certification; [Rule III, Section 1 (b) of DARAB Rules]
c. The issue involves the valuation of the land to determine just compensation;
[Rule III, Section 2 of DARAB Rules]
d. The parties reside in different barangays, unless they adjoin each other;
C. Rules of Procedure
1. It shall not be bound by technical rules of procedure and evidence but shall proceed to
hear and decide all cases, disputes or controversies in a most expeditious manner,
employing all reasonable means to ascertain the facts of every case in accordance with
justice and equity and the merits of the case. [Section 50]
3. To discourage frivolous or dilatory appeals from the decision or order on the local or
provincial levels, the DAR may impose reasonable penalties, including but not limited to
fines or censures upon erring parties. [Section 52]
D. Enforcement Powers
1. It shall have the power to summon witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony,
require submission of reports, compel the production of books and documents and
answers to interrogatories and issue subpoena, and subpoena duces tecum and to
enforce its writs through sheriffs or other duly deputized officers. It shall likewise have
the power to punish direct and indirect contempt in the same manner and subject to the
same penalties as provided in the Rules of Court. [Section 50]
2. The DAR has executed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Philippine National
Police, in order that the latter may assist the DAR in the enforcement of its orders.
E. Judicial Review
1. Any decision, order, award or ruling of the DAR on any agrarian dispute or on any
matter pertaining to the application, implementation, enforcement or interpretation of
the CARL and other pertinent laws on agrarian reform may be brought to the Court of
Appeals by certiorari within fifteen (15) days from receipt of a copy thereof. [Section 54]
2. The findings of fact of the DAR shall be final and conclusive if based on substantial
evidence.
3. Notwithstanding an appeal to the Court of Appeals, the decision of the DAR shall be
immediately executory. [Section 50]
1. The Special Agrarian Courts (Regional Trial Courts) shall have original and exclusive
jurisdiction over:
2. The Special Agrarian Courts, upon their own initiative or at the instance of any of the
parties, may appoint one or more commissioners to examine, investigate and ascertain
facts relevant to the dispute, including the valuation of properties and to file a written
report thereof with the court. EICScD
B. Appeals
* Within fifteen (15) days from the receipt of the decision of the Special Agrarian
Court, an appeal may be taken by filing a petition for review with the Court of
Appeals.
* Within a non-extendible period of fifteen (15) days from the receipt of the
decision of the Court of Appeals, an appeal may be taken by filing a petition for
review with the Supreme Court.
b. The forcible entry or illegal detainer by persons who are not qualified
beneficiaries to avail themselves of the rights and benefits of the CARP.
2. Any person who knowingly or willfully violates the provisions of CARL shall be
punished by imprisonment of not less than one (1) month to not more than three (3)
years or a fine of not less than one thousand pesos (P1,000.00) and not more than fifteen
thousand pesos (P15,000.00), or both at the discretion of the court. If the offender is a
corporation or association, the officer responsible therefor shall be criminally liable.
B. Conversions
a. Under Executive Order No. 129-A, Series of 1987, the Department of Agrarian
Reform is authorized to:
b. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law provides that the DAR . . . may
authorize the reclassification or conversion on the land and its disposition.
[Section 65]
2. Conversion
a. After the lapse of five (5) years from its award, when the land ceases to be
economically feasible and sound for agricultural purposes, or the locality has
become highly urbanized and the land will have greater economic value for
residential, commercial or industrial purposes, the DAR, upon application of the
beneficiary or the landowner, may authorize the reclassification or conversion of
the land and its disposition: Provided, That the beneficiary shall have fully paid his
obligation. [Section 65]
i. Five (5) years had lapsed from the award of the land; ESTCHa
ii. The land ceases to be economically feasible and sound for agricultural
purposes, or the locality has become highly urbanized and the land will
have greater economic value for residential, commercial or industrial
purposes; and
ii. All other agricultural lands may be converted only upon strict
compliance with existing laws, rules and regulations.
3. Disturbance Compensation
* Section 36 (1) of Republic Act No. 3844, as amended provides: the agricultural
lessee shall be entitled to disturbance compensation equivalent to five years
rental on his landholding.
XVI. Effectivity
* CARL takes effect immediately after publication in at least two (2) national newspapers of
general circulation. CARL was printed 15 June 1988.