THE AGRARIAN REFORM
OF THE COUNTRY
Module 3.2.
Readings in Philippine History
Learning Outcome
LO 3.2. Evaluate the Philippine Agrarian Reform
Programs.
Landownership in the Philippines under Spain
• When the Spaniards colonized the country, they brought with them a
system of pueblo agriculture, where rural communities, often dispersed
and scattered in nature.
• Families were not allowed to own their land- the King of Spain owned
the land
• Families paid their colonial tributes in the form of agricultural products.
Law of the Indies
• The Spanish crown awarded tracts of land to:
• Religious Orders
• Repartamientos for Spanish military
• Spanish encomenderos
Encomienda System
• Filipino farmers were to sell their product at a very low price or surrender their
product to the encomenderos
• Filipinos were required to render services that were unrelated to farming
• Developed the hacienda system as a new form of ownership
• In 1860’s , Spain enacted a law ordering landholders to register their landholdings.
• Many peasant were driven out or forced to come under the power of these people
who claimed rights to the land because they held a title.
This is the primary reason why revolts are often agrarian in nature and the
greatest desire for freedom would ne the necessity of owning land
Landownership in the Philippines under the
Americans
• The Americans were aware that the main cause of social
unrest in the Philippines was landlessness.
• Americans attempted to put an end to this condition by
passing several land policies
Philippine Bill of 1902
• Provided regulations on the disposal of public lands.
• A private individual may own 16 hectares while corporate
landholders may have 1024 ha.
• Americans were also given rights to own agricultural lands
Act No. 496/ Land Registration Act
• Enacted by the Philippine Commission which introduce
the Torrens System
• Torrens System introduced to address the earlier
records of issued land titles and conduct accurate land
surveys
Homestead Program
• Allowing a tenant to enter into an agricultural business by acquiring a farm of at
least 16 hectares but this program was limited to areas in Northern Luzon and
Mindanao, where colonial penetration had been difficult for Americans.
• Landownership did not improve during the American period; in fact, it even
worsened, because there is no limit to the size of landholdings.
• Accessibility of possession was limited to those who could afford to buy, register
and acquire fixed property titles.
• The systems introduced by the Americans enabled mo0re lands to be placed
under tenancy, which led to widespread peasants uprising such as Colorum and
the Sakdal Uprising in Luzon.
• The Sakdal Uprising (Sakdalista)was a peasant rebellion in Central Luzon that
lasted fro two days, May 2-3 1935.
• The Filipino word sakdal means “to accuse”, which is the title of the newspaper
helmed by Benigno Ramos. He rallied support from Manila and nearby
provinces through the publication.
• During the years of the Commonwealth government under the administration of
Pres. Quezon, he created the National Rice and Corn Corporation (NARIC) to
assign public defenders to assist peasants in court battles for their rights to the
land , and the Court of Industrial Relations to exercise jurisdiction over
disagreements arising from landowner- tenant relationship.
• Efforts towards the agrarian reform by the commonwealth failed because of many
problems such as budget allocation for the settlement program and widespread
peasant uprisings.
Post-war Intervention Toward Agrarian
Reform
• Rehabilitations and rebuilding after the war were focused by providing solutions
to the problems of the past.
• The administration of Pres. Roxas passed Republic Act No. 34 to establish a 70-
30 sharing arrangement between tenant and landlords respectively, which
reduced the landowners’ loans to tenants at 6 percent or less.
Under the term of Pres. Elpidio Quirino
• The Land Settlement Development Corporation(LASEDECO) was established to
accelerate and expand the resettlement program for peasants. This agency
later on became the National Resettlement and rehabilitation Administration
(NARRA) under the administration of Pres. Magsaysay.
Under President Ramon Magsaysay
• Magsaysay saw the importance of pursuing genuine land reform program and
convinced the Congress to pass the Agricultural Tenancy Act or the republic Act
no. 1199 to govern the relationship between landholders and tenant farmers.
• Through this law, the court of Agricultural Relations was created- to improve
tenancy security, fix land rentals, and to resolve land disputes filed by the
landowners and peasant organization
• The Agricultural tenancy Commission was established to administer problems
created by tenancy
• The Agricultural Credit and Cooperative Financing Administration (ACCFA) to
provide warehouse facilities and assist farmers in marketing their products.
Term of Pres. Diosdado Macapagal
• Established the Agricultural Land Reform Code (RA No. 3844)- To abolished
share tenancy in the Philippines and prescribed a program to convert tenant-
farmers to leases and later on owner-cultivators.
• To free tenants from tenancy and emphasize owner-cultivatorship and farmer
independence , equity, productivity improvement, and public land distribution.
• Despite being one of the most comprehensive pieces of land reform legislation,
Congress did not make any effort to come up with a separate bill to fund its
implementation .
Agrarian Reform Efforts under Marcos
• Presidential Decree No. 27 – Code of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines became
the core of agrarian reform during Marcos regime.
• “ Operation Land Transfer ” on lands occupied by tenants of more than seven
hectares on rice and corn land commenced, and through legal compulsion and an
improved delivery of support services to small farmers, agrarian reform seemed
to0 be finally achievable.
• “ Masagana 99” – rice self- sufficiency program- Farmers were able to borrow
from banks and purchase three hectares plots of lands and agricultural inputs.
Post- 1986 Agrarian Reform
Term of Pres. Corazon Aquino
• The overthrow of Marcos and the 1987 Constitution resulted in a renewed
interest and attention to agrarian reform as Pres. Corazon Aquino envisioned
agrarian reform to be the centerpiece of her administration’s social legislation,
which proved difficult because her background betrayed her.
• On July 22, 1987, Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation 131 and Executive
Order 229, which outlined her land reform program.
• In 1988, the congress passed Republic Act No. 6657 or the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) which introduced the program with the same
name CARP- it enabled the redistribution of agricultural lands to tenants-farmers
from landowners.
Term of Pres. Fidel V. Ramos
• CARP implementation was speeded in order to meet the ten-year time frame,
despite limitations and constraints in funding , logistics and participation of
involved sectors.
• By 1996, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) distributed only 58.25% of
the total area target to be covered by the program.
• To address the lacking funding and the dwindling time for the implementation of
CARP, Ramos signed Republic Act No. 8532 in 1998 to amend CARL and to
extend the program to another ten years.
CARPER and the Future of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines
• The new deadline expired in 2008, leaving 1.2 million farmer beneficiaries and 1.6 million
hectares of agricultural land to be redistributed to farmers.
• In 2009, Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, signed Republic Act No. 9700 or the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) , the amendatory law that
extended the deadline to five more years.
• From 2009-2014, CARPER has distributed a total of 1 million hectares of land to 900,000
farmer beneficiaries.
• The DAR and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) are the
government agencies mandated to fulfill CARP and CARPER, but he combined effort and
resources of the two agencies have proved incapable of fully achieving the goals of agrarian
reform program in the Philippines.
