AGRARIAN LAWS AND SOCIAL LEGISLATIONI. BASIC PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS OF AGRARIAN REFORM A. Agrarian Reform. Defined (Section 3, R.A. No. 6657, as amended) Agrarian Reform means redistribution of lands, regardless of crops or fruits produced, to farmers and regular farmworkers who are landless, irrespective of tenurial arrangement, to include the totality of factors and support services designed to lift the economic status of the beneficiaries and all other arrangements alternative to the physical redistribution of lands, such as production or profit-sharing, labor administration, and the distribution of shares of stocks, which will allow beneficiaries to receive a just share of the fruits of the lands they work. B. Constitutional Provisions 1. Article II, Section 21 SECTION 21. The State shall promote comprehensive rural development and agrarian reform. 2. Article XII, Section 1 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 recognizing the right of labor to its just share in the fruits of production and the right of enterprises to reasonable returns on investments. The State shall regulate the relations between workers and employers. 4. The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility between workers and employers and the preferential use of voluntary modes in settling disputes. and a living wage. It shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization. and similar collective organizations. They shall be entitled to security of tenure. and to expansion and growth. and 8 SECTION 3. and shall enforce their mutual compliance therewith to foster industrial peace. 6. Agrarian and Natural Resources Reform . cooperatives. 5. They shall also participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as may be provided by law. However. all sectors of the economy and all regions of the country shall be given optimum opportunity to develop. the State shall protect Filipino enterprises against unfair foreign competition and trade practices. foreign markets. Private enterprises. including the right to strike in accordance with law. shall be encouraged to broaden the base of their ownership. collective bargaining and negotiations. including corporations. Section 3. 3. including conciliation. The State shall afford full protection to labor. humane conditions of work. organized and unorganized. local and overseas. Article XIII. and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all. In the pursuit of these goals. and peaceful concerted activities. SECTION 8. and other support services. SECTION 6. subject to prior rights. undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right of farmers and regular farmworkers. SECTION 5. 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. to own directly or collectively the lands they till or. to receive a just share of the fruits thereof. farmworkers. The State shall provide incentives to landowners to invest the proceeds of the agrarian reform program to promote industrialization. whenever applicable in accordance with law. organization. The State shall. marketing. and the rights of indigenous communities to their ancestral lands. The State shall apply the principles of agrarian reform or stewardship. subject to such priorities and reasonable retention limits as the Congress may prescribe. the State shall encourage and undertake the just distribution of all agricultural lands. To this end. taking into account ecological. and privatization of public . and landowners. in the case of other farmworkers. who are landless. The State shall further provide incentives for voluntary land-sharing. and shall provide support to agriculture through appropriate technology and research. by law. the State shall respect the right of small landowners. in the disposition or utilization of other natural resources. and other independent farmers’ organizations to participate in the planning. In determining retention limits. homestead rights of small settlers. including lands of the public domain under lease or concession suitable to agriculture. and subject to the payment of just compensation.SECTION 4. employment creation. and management of the program. developmental. or equity considerations. The State shall recognize the right of farmers. as well as cooperatives. production. and adequate financial. changing. or by another . Financial instruments used as payment for their lands shall be honored as equity in enterprises of their choice. whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of farm operator and beneficiary. fixing. as amended) 1. whether the land is owned by him.A. 6657. tenancy. either by himself. C. Agricultural Land Agricultural Land refers to land devoted to agricultural activity as defined in this Act and not classified as mineral. whether leasehold. 2. Agrarian Dispute Agrarian Dispute refers to any controversy relating to tenurial arrangements. Other important definitions (Section 3. commercial or industrial land. or lessor and lessee. No. It includes any controversy relating to compensation of lands acquired under this Act and other terms and conditions of transfer of ownership from landowners to farmworkers. R. or primarily with the assistance of his immediate farm household. 3. tenants and other agrarian reform beneficiaries. over lands devoted to agriculture. forest. landowner and tenant. residential. or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of such tenurial arrangements. sector enterprises. maintaining. stewardship or otherwise. Farmer Farmer refers to a natural person whose primary livelihood is cultivation of land or the production of agricultural crops. including disputes concerning farmworkers' associations or representation of persons in negotiating. A. whether as a permanent or a non-permanent laborer. [Ermita-Malate Hotel and Motel Operators Association. c. person under a leasehold or share tenancy agreement or arrangement with the owner thereof. (h) Regular Farmworker and (i) Seasonal Farmworker. 6657 1. 4. periodic or intermittent basis by an agricultural enterprise or farm. b. D. such as "dumaan". Police Power It is the inherent and plenary power if the State which enables it to prohibit all that is hurtful to the comfort. "sacada". or in connection with. Regular Farmworker is a natural person who is employed on a permanent basis by an agricultural enterprise or farm. The term includes an individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of. and the like. vs Mayor of Manila (1967)] . monthly or "pakyaw" basis. Constitutionality of R. safety and welfare of society. Farmworker Farmworker is a natural person who renders service for value as an employee or laborer in an agricultural enterprise or farm regardless of whether his compensation is paid on a daily. Inc. Seasonal Farmworker is a natural person who is employed on a recurrent. a pending agrarian dispute and who has not obtained a substantially equivalent and regular farm employment. Other Farmworker is a farmworker who does not fall under paragraphs (g) Farmworker. weekly. • Types of farmworker a. No. P. in the case of other farmworkers. 229. nevertheless gives them suppletory effect insofar as they are not inconsistent with its provisions. was also enacted. No.A. President Corazon Aquino issued E. instituting a comprehensive agrarian reform program (CARP) was enacted. After which is the enactment of R. No..O. Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law in 1988. Related Jurisprudence: • Association of Small Landowners in the Philippines vs Secretary of Agrarian Reform These are four consolidated cases questioning the constitutionality of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Act (R. to receive a just share of the fruits thereof. 6657. undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right of farmers and regular farmworkers. In 1987. RA 3844 was enacted in 1963. who are landless. providing the mechanics for its (PP131’s) implementation. No. No.A. 2. No. later. Agrarian Land Reform Code or R.A. declaring full land ownership in favor of the beneficiaries of PD 27 and providing for the valuation of still unvalued lands covered by the decree as well as the manner of their payment. 27 was promulgated in 1972 to provide for the compulsory acquisition of private lands for distribution among tenant-farmers and to specify maximum retention limits for landowners. This law. E. The State shall. P.P. Eminent Domain The power of eminent domain is the inherent right of the State to condemn private property to public use upon payment of just compensation. by law.D. to own directly or collectively the lands they till or.e. 131. 228. No. 3844). while considerably changing the earlier mentioned enactments. 6657 and related laws i. Brief background: Article XIII of the Constitution on Social Justice and Human Rights includes a call for the adoption by the State of an agrarian reform program.O. No. In 1987. . 6657 for they themselves have shown willingness to till their own land. The Association is comprised of landowners of ricelands and cornlands whose landholdings do not exceed 7 hectares. must be in terms of cash. 79777: (Manaay vs Juico) Nicolas Manaay questioned the validity of the agrarian reform laws (PD 27. They invoke that since their landholdings are less than 7 hectares. sought exception from the land distribution scheme provided for in R. Manaay averred that just compensation has always been in the form of money and not in bonds. In short. they want to be exempted from agrarian reform program because they claim to belong to a different class. 2.R. 3. under the agrarian reform program. Whether or not just compensation. Manaay also questioned the provision which states that landowners may be paid for their land in bonds and not necessarily in cash. ISSUE: 1. 6657. G. Whether or not there was a violation of the equal protection clause. Inc. EO 228. also violated due process for under the constitution. This.R. . they should not be forced to distribute their land to their tenants under R. Whether or not there is a violation of due process.A. 78742: (Association of Small Landowners vs Secretary) The Association of Small Landowners in the Philippines. no property shall be taken for public use without just compensation. and 229) on the ground that these laws already valuated their lands for the agrarian reform program and that the specific amount must be determined by the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). No. No. for Manaay. Manaay averred that this violated the principle in eminent domain which provides that only courts can determine just compensation.G.A. However. No. b) it must be germane to the purposes of the law. In any event. The Association have not shown that they belong to a different class and entitled to a different treatment. There is a substantial distinction between these two classes of owners that is clearly visible except to those who will not see. In fact. 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. The DAR can determine just compensation through appraisers and if the . There is no need to elaborate on this matter. 2.HELD: 1. it must conform to the following requirements: a) it must be based on substantial distinctions. 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. It is true that the determination of just compensation is a power lodged in the courts. it appears that Congress is right in classifying small landowners as part of the agrarian reform program. Under the law. the Congress is allowed a wide leeway in providing for a valid classification. there is no law which prohibits administrative bodies like the DAR from determining just compensation. The Association had not shown any proof that they belong to a different class exempt from the agrarian reform program. and d) it must apply equally to all the members of the class. c) it must not be limited to existing conditions only. No. 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. just compensation can be that amount agreed upon by the landowner and the government – even without judicial intervention so long as both parties agree. In the contrary. 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. e. the Court granted the motion regarding the injunction and required the parties to file their respective memoranda. then the government will not have sufficient money hence. landowner agrees. If the landowner does not agree with the finding of just compensation by an administrative body. The program will require billions of pesos in funds if all compensation have to be made in cash – if everything is in cash. The Court resolved to deny the petition. • Luz Farms vs Secretary of Agrarian Reform Facts: Luz Farms is a corporation engaged in livestock and poultry business allegedly stands to be adversely affected by the enforcement of CARP. the just compensation determined by an administrative body is merely preliminary. This is even so provided by RA 6657: Section 16 (f): Any party who disagrees with the decision may bring the matter to the court of proper jurisdiction for final determination of just compensation. shares of stocks. after a motion for reconsideration. Land is not the primary resource in this undertaking and represents no more than five percent (5%) of the total investment of . No. The agrarian reform program is a revolutionary exercise of eminent domain. Money as [sole] payment for just compensation is merely a concept in traditional exercise of eminent domain. 3. Luz Farm: Livestock or poultry raising is not similar to crop or tree farming. i. Luz Farms petitions CARP to be declared unconstitutional together with a writ of preliminary injunction or restraining the order.. then it can go to court and the determination of the latter shall be the final determination. What is contemplated by law however is that. bonds. Later. and other securities. then judicial intervention is not needed. may be used for just compensation. 13 and 32 of R. there are many owners of residential lands all over the country who use available space in their residence for commercial livestock and raising purposes. . poultry and swine in its coverage as well as the Implementing Rules and Guidelines promulgated in accordance therewith. tillage. He cited that Webster's International Dictionary.A. are hereby DECLARED null and void for being unconstitutional and the writ of preliminary injunction issued is hereby MADE permanent. often. poultry." whereby processing corporations and other commercial livestock and poultry raisers. farming.commercial livestock and poultry raisers. including also. feeding. 6657 is proper. husbandry. DAR: livestock and poultry raising is embraced in the term "agriculture" and the inclusion of such enterprise under Section 3(b) of R. 6657 insofar as the inclusion of the raising of livestock." clearly show that it was never the intention of the framers of the Constitution to include livestock and poultry industry in the coverage of the constitutionally-mandated agrarian reform program of the Government. 11. No. under "contract-growing arrangements. insofar as the said law includes the raising of livestock. Ruling: The transcripts of the deliberations of the Constitutional Commission of 1986 on the meaning of the word "agricultural. Indeed. breeding and management of livestock. the instant petition is hereby GRANTED. PREMISES CONSIDERED.A. swine in its coverage. "Agriculture — the art or science of cultivating the ground and raising and harvesting crops. Sections 3(b). Issue: Constitutionality of CARP.