MODULE 4:

ACTIVITY 2
AGRARIAN REFORM
AND LEGISLATION IN
THE PHILIPPINES
MATTHEW CORTES

BSED SCIENCE 1-B

TIMELINE
The pre-Spanish land situation

While pre-Spanish historical records are virtually non-

existent, it appears that there were various types of and
patterns practiced in the Philippines.
TIMELINE
The pre-Spanish land situation

● (a) Land Patterns:

● 1. The tribal hunters and gatherers existed in their resource
ranges then, much as they do now, with no system of land
ownership.
● 2. Shifting cultivators regarded all land as their public domain
although they did not choose to cultivate all of the available
land.
● 3.The third category was those who practiced a type of
sedentary culture.
TIMELINE
The pre-Spanish land situation

● A rudimentary form of private ownership was practiced but

there were no formalized procedures for recognizing private
ownership, such as deeds, titles, or tax documents.
● 4. Finally, there was the Muslim system of land distribution in
southern Philippines which is unique from the pagan system.
● Thus, the social system determined the land system in pre-
Spanish times.
TIMELINE
The pre-Spanish land situation

(b) Social classes

Since the pre-Spanish Filipinos were not highly integrated and

fused into national unity because of the nature of their geography
as well as their society, they were found living in rather isolated
groups called "barangays". The people of each barangay were
subdivided into three main classes and were ruled over by a
headman or datu. The three classes were:
TIMELINE
The pre-Spanish land situation

the nobles (maharlika) who were otherwise known as

freemen; the serfs of timawa, and the slaves or the alipin.
The nobles were free from tribute payment, could own their
own land, and paid few exactions to the chief, although they
were responsible to fight for him in times of interbarangay
warfare.
TIMELINE
The pre-Spanish land situation

The serfs were entitled to cultivate certain lands, but were required
to pay an annual fee of one-half of the yield of their crops to the
datu. They remained with the land as a result of this regular
payment. The slaves simply served the datu and the nobles and
were owned by them. As a result, they could be sold or traded and
had no rights whatsoever. They naturally, never entered the land-
holding class.
TIMELINE
The pre-Spanish land situation

In summary, the pre-Spanish period saw the Filipinos highly

dispersed into small-existent groups ruled by a chieftain who along
with a relatively few nobles laid claim to the best agricultural lands.
TIMELINE
Development of tenancy under
Spain

The initial Spanish policy was to recognize all lands in the

Philippines as part of the public domain regardless of local
customs. As such, the crown was at liberty to parcel out huge
tracts of Philippine land, including the resources and the
inhabitants thereof, to loyal civilians and military servants as
rewards.
TIMELINE
Development of tenancy under
Spain

a.) Encomienda system

Encomiendas were introduced in the Philippines when Legaspi, in

compliance with the decree issued by King Philip II in 1558,
distributed lands in Cebu to loyal Spanish subjects. It was the
subdivision of the Philippines in order to facilitate the pacification
campaign. The encomienda was not actually a land grant but was
a favor from the King under a Spaniard called the encomendero.
The encomendero was given the right to collect taxes or tributes
from the inhabitants of the area assigned to him.
TIMELINE
Development of tenancy under
Spain

The encomenderos were required by law to perform the

duties such as protection of the natives, convert the natives
to Christianity, and promote education. Unfortunately, most
encomenderos committed abuses which affected the peace
and order, and createdconflict between the encomenderos
and friars.
TIMELINE
Development of tenancy under
Spain

b.) Rise of the cacique class

In place of the encomiendas the Spaniards began to group several

barangays together into administrative units which they termed
"pueblos" and "municipios". The barangay continued to be ruled by
the datus who then became known as "cabeza de barangay" or
"barrio tenientes". The "pueblo" or the "municipio" was in turn
governed by one called a "gobernadorcillo" Together, the
"cabezas" and "gobernadorcillos" made up the cacique class.
TIMELINE
Development of tenancy under
Spain

As times went on, this Filipino cacique class intermarried with the
Spaniards, giving the class a mestizo cast which exists to this day.
In this enviable position, the cabezas and the gobernadorcillos
gained more and more stature in the Spanish official dom, both civil
and ecclesiastical, and the tao or the common people. In time, the
cacique was given the prerogative of collecting taxes, too, a fact,
which gave them great power and did not help to endear them to
the people. Caciquism as an institution became deep-rooted in the
Philippines soil and undoubtedly was the forerunner of many
present day agricultural problems.
TIMELINE
Development of tenancy under
Spain

c.) Early rebellions

as the cacique system grew, it also became more and more

oppressive. This led to occasional rebellions during the 18th
century which usually occurred in the areas of greatest agricultural
activity such as Central Luzon. Enforced labor, the relatively heavy
head tax, and the required contributions to the church and the
officials were the principal causes of rebellion.
TIMELINE
Development of tenancy under
Spain

It is interesting to note that land problems per se were not

the source of conflict which led to these rebellious outbreaks
during this time. Land was still available in the archipelago,
and it was not until later that conflict grew over its
ownership.
TIMELINE
Development of tenancy under
Spain

d.) Conflicts over land ownership

During the 19th century, several developments took place which

tended to solidify the land tenure system and arouse antagonism
over its injustices and inequalities. Since the Spaniards did not levy
a land tax but rather a head tax, few records were kept relative to
land ownership; the Spanish government a small minority of the
land in the legal possession of the peasants.
TIMELINE
The land tenure situation under the
American rule

1898-1935. At the beginning of the period, the Spanish land

records that had existed were either destroyed or lost, leaving the
legal situation with regard to holdings very complicated. Again, it
was a period when the unscrupulous were able to wrest control of
land away from the small holders. Many caciques who had
maintained their position during the Spanish period were able to
keep and even strengthen their positions under the Americans.
TIMELINE
The land tenure situation under the
American rule

a.) Actual increase in tenancy rate

An inescapable fact is that tenancy actually increased during the period of

American Control. From 1903-1938, land ownership decreased by 31.6%
from 80.8% to 49.2% while tenancy increased by 15.8% from 19.2% to
35.0%. From 1918 to 1938 a 16.4% decrease in the number of farms was
also noted. This decrease was directly attributed to the tendency toward the
greater concentration farms in the hands of the fewer individuals and the
rapid increase in the number operated under some form of tenancy.
TIMELINE
The land tenure situation under the
American rule

b.) Purchase of friar lands

Realizing that the friar lands had been the major source of irritation
and since they occupied some of the best lands in the country, the
United States negotiated the purchase of 23 Friar Estates during
the early years of this century. The land was sub-divided and
offered for sale to the Filipinos residing on it at a rate of 8% interest
over a 25-year period.
TIMELINE
The land tenure situation under the
American rule

This program was not understood by the people. They could not
fathom why they should have to buy the land their parents and
forefathers had worked on and developed. It is safe to say that the
purchase of the friar lands did not begin to solve the tenancy
problems in the Philippines. In 1938, the Church still controlled an
estimated 41,782 hectares.
TIMELINE
The land tenure situation under the
American rule

c.) Homesteading

The Public Land Act of July 1, 1902 became effective on July 26,
1904 offering homestead plots not in excess of 16 hectares to
families who had occupied and cultivated the tract they were
residing in since August 1,1898. Plots with the same size were
promised to those who are willing to relocate on lands of the public
domain in other less densely populated parts of the Philippines.
This policy favored the small holders since the largest plot
obtainable by the corporation was 1,024 hectares.
TIMELINE
The land tenure situation under the
American rule

d.) Present rebellions and oppositions

As the tenancy problem grew during the 1930s; several sporadic

rebellions broke out in the high tenancy areas of the Philippines. In
1931 the "Tayug incident occurred during which armed peasants
looted and destroyed land records in the Tayug City Hall.
TIMELINE
The land tenure situation under the
American rule
e.) Rice Share Tenancy Act (Act No. 4050) –

In the face of these uprisings, the government began to act. One of the
most important pieces of legislation during this period was the Rice Share
Tenancy Act of 1933. Its principal purpose was the regulation of tenancy
share contracts by establishing minimum standards. Primarily, the Act
provided for better tenant- landlord relationship, a 50-50 sharing of the
crop, regulation of interest to 10% per agricultural year, and safeguards
against arbitrary dismissal by the landlord. However, they could only be
implemented by petition of the majority of the municipal councils in a given
province. Since the land lords control of the municipal councils was
overwhelming, no petition for application of the Share Tenancy Act was
ever presented.
TIMELINE
The land tenure situation under the
American rule

In 1936, the act was amended to rid it of this loophole, but once
again the landlords were successful in watering down its principles
by making its application relative and not absolute. Landlords
threatened to dismiss tenants who insisted on the observance of
the Act. As a result, the act was never carried out in spite of its
good intentions.
TIMELINE
The land tenure situation under the
American rule

d.) Sugar Cane Tenancy Contracts Act (Act No

4113) The second piece of legislation regulated
the relationships of the landowners and tenants
on sugar lands.
TIMELINE
During the Commonwealth Period

Indeed, the agrarian problem festered for so long a time that the
1935 Constitution incorporated the cardinal principle on social
justice: "The promotion of the social justice to insure the well-being
and the economic security of all the people should be the concern
of the state". To give substance and meaning to this principle,
several laws were enacted to protect the working class both in
industry and agriculture. Notable were:
TIMELINE
During the Commonwealth Period

● a. Commonwealth Act No. 103, which created the court of

Industrial Relations originally also referred to as agricultural
workers.
● b. Commonwealth Act No. 213, which define and regulated
legitimate labor organizations; and
● c. Commonwealth Act No. 178, 461 and 608, which gave more
protection to agricultural tenants under the Rice Share Tenancy
act.
TIMELINE
During the Commonwealth Period

Dictated by the social justice program of the government,

expropriation of landed estates and other big landholding was
started. Likewise, orderly settlement of virgin public agricultural
lands was begun by the Land National Settlement Administration
(NLSA). At the outbreak of the Second World War, major
settlement areas containing more than 65,000 hectares were
already established.
TIMELINE
Effects of the Japanese Occupation

The Japanese occupation of the Philippines from late 1941 to around

1945 had a tremendous impact on the agrarian issue. From the ranks
of the peasant and labor organizations and from the merger of the
Communist Party of the Philippines and the Socialist Party were born
the Hukbong Magpapalaya sa Bayan (HUKBALAHAP) in 1942 led by a
charismatic peasant leader, Luis Taruc. The Huks, in addition to
fighting the Japanese, also took up the cause of the peasants against
the landlords who often collaborated with the Japanese to maintain
their dominant position.
TIMELINE
Rise of the HUKBALAHAP

After the war, the Huks were able to take advantage of the social
unrest plaguing the country, the complete demoralization of the
people after the war, and the surge of the lawlessness that swept
the country and the continuing peasant struggle for agrarian reform
which the Huks had become identified with during the war. The
Huks were able to establish a "shadow" or "visible" government in
the Central Luzon, carried on elections, expropriated lands of
collaborators, and took crops frcm the division among peasants.
TIMELINE
Rise of the HUKBALAHAP

The chaotic economic situation at the time and the use of the
military by the landlords further discredited the government in the
eyes of the people. It was this kind of situation that made the Huks
stronger and closer to the people.
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

In 1946, President Manuel Roxas proclaimed the Rice Share

Tenancy Act of 1933 effective throughout the country, but problems
of land tenure persisted and in certain areas they become worse.
Among the remedial measures enacted was R. A. No 34 of 1946
providing for a 70-30 crop sharing arrangement and regulating
share tenancy contracts and R. A No. 1160 of 1954 establishing
the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation administration to the
settle landless dissidents and other landless farmers.
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

a) The Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954 (R.A. No. 1199).

In September 1954, during the term of the President Ramon

Magsaysay, the Congress through his instance passed the
Agricultural Tenancy act (R.A. No. 1199 as amended by R.A No.
2263) which allowed for the division of crops on the following basis:
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

Item Equivalent % of the Crop throughout the country, but

problems of land tenure persisted and in certain areas they
become worse. Among the remedial measures enacted was R. A.
No 34 of 1946 providing for a 70-30 crop sharing arrangement and
regulating share tenancy contracts and R. A No. 1160 of 1954
establishing the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation
administration to the settle landless dissidents and other landless
farmers.
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

b. The Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954 (R.A. No. 1199).

In September 1954, during the term of the President Ramon

Magsaysay, the Congress through his instance passed the
Agricultural Tenancy act (R.A. No. 1199 as amended by R.A No.
2263) which allowed for the division of crops on the following basis:
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

● Item Equivalent % of the Crop

● 1. Land 30%
● 2. Labor 30%
● 3. Animals 5%
● 4. Implements 5%
● 5. Final Harrowing 5%
● 6. Transplanting 25%
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

Under this arrangement, if the tenant-farmer provided items 2-6, he

could receive a maximum of 70% of the crop. This was a genuine
split in favor of tenant-farmer. The effect of the law, however,
attacks only the symptoms of the tenancy problem — the
distribution of the agricultural product. The root of the problem of
the tenurial system was neglected.
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

c. Land reform act of1995 (R.A. No. 1400) was enacted.

Through the administrative agency created by the Act, the Land Tenure Administration,
the following problem was envisaged:
l. Reduction of large landholdings and consolidation of smaller, uneconomic holdings into
plots of adequate size;
2. Resettlement of tenants in areas of abundant lands;
3. Provision of adequate credit facilities for the small landholders;
4. Reduction of rental and interest rates in order to provide.
5. Securing of land titles for small holders; and
6. Reform of the property tax structure.
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

c. Land resettlement as a solution-

the availability of the land for resettlement purposes has always been
stressed by so-called experts. they claim that vast amount of land exists to
accommodate the tenants who want to move out. Resettlement as a
solution has been so much emphasized that it has in reality been an
obstacle to the continued progress of land reform and the regulation of
tenancy. It has been used by landlord politicians precisely to draw attention
away from the failure of the government to enact more direct feasible and
substantial form of agrarian reform.
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

d. The Agricultural Land Reform Code of 1963 (R.A No. 3844)

On august 8, 1962, under the leadership of president Diosdado

Macapagal, R.A No. 3844, otherwise known as the Agricultural land Reform
Code, was passed by Congress. It was supposed to be historic
breakthrough in agrarian reform for it sought to abolish and outlaw share
tenancy and put in place the agricultural leasehold system. It likewise
provided for the eventual expropriation and subdivision of big landed
estates and their resale at cost and on installment to landless tillers. It
likewise reduced the limit to 75 hectares.
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

e. Amendments to the Agricultural Land Reform Code (R.A. N0.

6389)

On September 10, 1971, upon pressure of peasant organization

demonstrators who picketed for 84 days in front of the Legislative
Building, Congress passed further amendments to the Agricultural
Lan Reform Code. The main features of the new amendments
were:
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

1. Abolition of personal cultivation and conversion to residential subdivision as grounds

for the ejectments of tenants;
2. Automatic conversion of all share-tenants in the Philippines to leasehold tenants
with some exceptions and qualifying;
3. Creation of the Department of Agrarian Reform;
4. Right of the tenant on land converted to residential subdivisions to demand a
disturbance compensation equivalent to five times the average gross harvest for the
past three agricultural years;
5. Increase financing for the land reform program, and
6. Crediting of rentals in favour of the tenant against the just compensation that he
would have to pay in case the land was experienced by the government for resale to
the tenant.
TIMELINE
Post-War Attempts at Agrarian
Reform

f. Agrarian Reform Special Fund (R.A No. 6369).

This means companion measure which was the approved on the

same date, created an agrarian reform special account to finance
the Agrarian Reform Program of the Government.
TIMELINE
Under the Martial law and the 1973
Constitution

On September 21, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos

proclaimed martial law all over the Philippines.
TIMELINE
Under the Martial law and the 1973
Constitution

a. Presidential Decree No. 2 - Five days later, on September

26, 1972, he used Presidential Decree No. 2 declaring the
entire Philippines as land reform Area.
TIMELINE
Under the Martial law and the 1973
Constitution

b. Presidential Decree No. 27 – Then on October 21, 1972, exactly

one month after the declaration of martial law, President Marcos
signed Presidential Decree No. 27, “emancipating the tenant-
farmers from the bondage of the soil.” In one stroke, tenant farmers
in all the private agricultural lands primarily devoted to rice and
corn were deemed owners of they were tilling. It was very bold step
taken toward hastening the full implementation and realization of
agrarian reform. And it was made possible due to the extraordinary
powers the president exercised under martial law.
TIMELINE
Under the Martial law and the 1973
Constitution

c. Several other decrees on agrarian reform were issued by the

President under his martial law powers and the legislative authority
granted to him by the Amendment No. 6 to the 1973 Constitution.
TIMELINE
Under the 1987 Constitution

The present Constitution took effective immediately upon its

ratification by the people on February 1987. It repealed the
Provisional Constitution promulgated under Proclamation No. 3 of
President Corazon Aquino following the installation of a
revolutionary government.
TIMELINE
Under the 1987 Constitution

a. In the exercise of her legislative power under Provisional

Constitution (Art. IL Sec-I, thereof) recognized by the new
Constitution (in Art XVIII, Sec.6, thereof) the President issued one
proclamation and three executive orders on agrarian reform.
TIMELINE
Under the 1987 Constitution

1. On July 22, 1987, or five (5) days before the opening of the New
Congress, she signed Proclamation No. 131 instituting a
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and Executive
No. 229 providing the mechanism needed initially to implement the
program.
TIMELINE
Under the 1987 Constitution

2. The other presidential issuances on agrarian reform Executive

No. 129-A (dated July 26, 1987) "reorganizing and strengthening
the Department of Agrarian Reform and for other purposes; and
Executive Order No. 228 (dated July 17, 1987) "declaring full land
ownership to qualified farmer beneficiaries covered by Presidential
Decree No. 27: determining the value of remaining unvalued rice
and corn lands subject to P.D. No. 27; and providing the manner of
the by the fanner beneficiary and mode of compensation to the
land owner”
TIMELINE
Under the 1987 Constitution

b. The primary governing law on agrarian reform at present is Republic Act

No. 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law
(CARL) of 1988 (dated June 10, 1988) “an act instituting a Agrarian Reform
Program to promote social injustice and industrialization, providing the
mechanism for its implementation and for other purposes.” Presidential
Decree No. 27 and Executive Order No. 228 and No. 229 and other laws
not inconsistent with the act shall have only supplementary effect. This
means that only the provisions thereof which are not inconsistent with the
act shall continue to be in force while those inconsistent with it are repealed
or amended accordingly.
MODULE 4:
ACTIVITY 2
AGRARIAN REFORM
AND LEGISLATION IN
THE PHILIPPINES