Agrarian Reform in the Philippines• • • • • • • The Philippine Agrarian Problem: 1. Two important dimensions: land & the people; agricultural & social; productivity & human rights; 2. A basic problem of society 3. Basically a question of land distribution & utilization The Agrarian Problem • 3. Basically, a question of land distribution & utilization • The right to own property, universal but limited • Land is necessary for all human beings & everybody has the right to use land for his survival • The right to use is given to all individuals but the matter to be used is limited & the number of users unlimited Historico-Political Survey of the Agrarian Problems • 1. Pre-Spanish land situation • a. Land patterns: • 1. tribal hunters & gatherers • 2. shifting cultivators • 3. those with sedentary culture • 4. Muslims • b. Social classes Spanish Period Land Situation • • • • • • • 2. Land tenancy under Spain: a. Encomienda system b. Rise of the cacique class c. Early rebellions d. Conflicts over land tenureship e. Friar lands f. Philippine revolution Land Tenure Situation Under the American Regime • • • • • • • • • a. Actual increase in tenancy rate b. Purchase of friar lands c. Homesteading d. Peasant rebellions & opposition e. Rice Share Tenancy Act ( Act No. 4050) f. Sugar Cane Tenancy contracts Act (Act No. 4113) Commonwealth Period • a. Commonwealth Act No. 103 – created the Court of Industrial Relations • b. Commonwealth Act no. 213 – regulated legitimate labor organizations • c. Commonwealth Acts.178,461,& 608gave more protection to tenants. • Orderly settlement of virgin • agricultural lands begun by • the National Land Settlement Administration Effects of Japanese Occupation • The Japanese occupation of the Philippines from 1941 to 1945 had a tremendous impact on the agrarian issue • From the ranks of the peasant & labor organizations & from the merger of the Communist Party of the Philippines & Socialist Party rose the Hukbong Magpapalaya sa Bayan • ( HUKBALAHAP) Post War Attempts at Agrarian Reform • a. Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954 ( Ra No. 1199 • b. Land Reform Act of 1955 (Ra No. 1400) • c. Land resettlement as a solution • d. The Agricultural Land Reform Code of 1963 ( RA No. 3844) • e. Amendments to the Agricultural • Land Reform Code ( R.A. 6389) • f. Agrarian Reform Special Fund • Act ( RA 6369) Under Martial Law & 1973 Constitution • 1. Presidential Decree No. 2- declaring the entire Philippines as land reform area • 2. Presidential Decree No. 27 – “emancipating the tenant-farmers from the bondage of the soil” Under the 1987 Constitution • 1. President Aquino signed Proclamation No. 131 instituting a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp) & EO No. 229 providing for the mechanisms • 2. She issued EO No. 129-A :Department • of Agrarian Reform • The primary governing law on agrarian reform at present is Republic Act 6657, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 Imperatives of Agrarian Reform • 1. Land reform would increase production • 2. It would provide for the capital needed to industrialize • 3. Land reform is the answer to the communist challenge • 4. It would correct the present imbalance in our society • 5. It would make democracy truly meaningful to our people Objections to Agrarian Reform • • • • 1. Fragmentation of farm-holdings 2. Small farms uneconomic 3. Small landholdings included 4. Agrarian reform failed in the past Components of Agrarian Reform • 1. Land distribution – most effective way of providing security of tenure to tillers of the soil • 2. Companion measures: Credit & modern & better methods of production • Creation & development of new social institutions to assist the farmers The Code of Agrarian Reforms (RA No. 3844 as amended) • Beneficiaries under the Code: • 1. Tenanted farmers • 2. Agricultural wage earners or farm workers • 3. Settlers including migrant workers • 4. Owner-cultivators of less than family sized farms The Code of Agrarian Reform Code • • • • • Lands covered by the Code: 1. Tenanted areas 2. Landed estates 3. Old settlements 4. Proposed settlements The Tenants Emancipation Decree (PD No. 27) • Under this decree there is no more leasehold in tenanted rice & corn lands , the tiller becomes automatically the amortizing owner of the land • Beneficiaries are the bona fide tenant-farmers of private agricultural lands primarily devoted to rice & corn under the lease tenancy system • Every family should own an economic familysized farm • Retention limit- 7 hectares Bill of Rights for Agricultural Labor • 1. Right to self-organization • 2. Right to engage in concerted activities like strike, picketing, boycott • 3. Right to minimum wage • 4. Right to work for not more than 8 hours • 5. Right to claim damages for death or injuries sustained while at work • 6. Right to compensation for • personal injuries, death or • illness • 7. Right against suspension,