LAW 203 - Agrarian Law and Social Legislation Midterm Reviewer

 

1. Give the provisions of the 1987 Constitution on Agrarian Reform.

The provisions of Agrarian Reform were enshrined in 1987 Philippine Constitution in Article XIII, Sections 4-8, to wit:

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.

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.

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 agricultural estates which shall be distributed to them in the manner provided by law.

Section 7. The State shall protect the rights of subsistence fishermen, especially of local communities, to the preferential use of the 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.

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.

 

 

 

2. Define agrarian reform.

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. [Sec. 3 (a), R.A. No. 6657, as amended)

 

 

 

3. Is agrarian reform limited only to redistribution of lands?

Agrarian reform program is not limited only to land distribution but also to the following:

-Land redistribution (Sec. 22, R.A. 6657, as amended);

-In case it is not economically feasible and sound to divide the land, then it shall be owned collectively by the workers' cooperative or association (Sec. 29, R.A. 6657) and,

-Stock distribution [limited only up to June 30, 2009 pursuant to R.A. 9700] (Sec. 31, R.A. 6657) [Hacienda Luisita vs PARC, G.R. No. 171101]

 

 

 

4. Define agricultural land.

Agricultural Land refers to land devoted to agricultural activity as defined in this Act and not classified as mineral, forest, residential, commercial or industrial land. [Sec. 3 (c), R.A. 6657]

 

 

 

5. What is economic family-size farm? Discuss it in relation to agrarian reform.

The economic family-size farm is the minimum size of land which is the limit for all agricultural land holdings (Sec. 6, R.A. 6657). According to Ungos (2018) the family-size farm is limited only up to 5 hectares of land. If the family owns more than five hectares of land; their children is entitled to three (3) hectares of the land provided the following requisites are present:

-the child is at least 15 years old; and

-the child is actually tilling the land or directly managing the farm

 

As provided in Section 6, R.A. 6657; “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-size farm, such as commodity produced, terrain, infrastructure, and soil fertility as determined by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC).” Thus family-size farm serves as the limit of every Filipino family, specially the rich one to better serve the land distribution to the poor and landless farmers.

 

 

 

6. What are lands covered by agrarian reform?

As provided in Section 4, R.A. 6657, as amended; 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

(d) All private lands devoted to or suitable for agriculture regardless of the agricultural products raised or that can be raised thereon.

 

 

 

7. Give the lands exempted or excluded from the coverage of agrarian reform law.

The lands exempted or excluded from the coverage of Agrarian Reform Law are:

-Lands actually, directly and exclusively used for parks, wildlife, forest reserves, reforestation, fish sanctuaries and breeding grounds, watersheds and mangroves shall be exempt from the coverage of this Act. [Sec. 10-A, R.A. 6657 as Amended by R.A. 7881];

-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. [Sec. 10-B, R.A. 6657 as Amended by R.A. 7881];

-Lands actually, directly and exclusively used and found to be necessary for national defense, school sites and campuses, including experimental farm stations operated by public or private schools for educational purposes, seeds and seedlings research and pilot production center, church sites and convents appurtenant thereto, mosque sites and Islamic centers appurtenant thereto, communal burial grounds and cemeteries, penal colonies and penal farms actually worked by the inmates, government and private research and quarantine centers and all lands with eighteen percent (18%) slope and over, except those already developed, shall be exempt from the coverage of this Act.” [Sec. 10-C, R.A. 6657 as Amended by R.A. 7881];

-ancestral lands of each indigenous cultural community [Sec. 9, R.A. 6657];

-Private lands with a total are of five hectares and below;

-lands classified as non-agricultural prior to the effectivity of R.A 6657 are not covered [Ong vs Imperial, G.R. No. 197127].

 

 

 

8. Who is deemed “landless” under R. A. 6657?

Landless are those farmers without land as their own or those beneficiary of CARP who owns only less than three (3) hectares of agricultural land.  In Section 25, R.A. 6657 provides that “Landless beneficiary is one who owns less than three (3) hectares of agricultural land.”

 

 

 

9. Discuss retention limits and its exceptions.

Retention limits and its exception of R.A. 6657 as amended is provided in Section 6; which states that:

Section 6; Retention Limits. — Except as otherwise provided in this Act, 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-size farm, such as commodity produced, terrain, infrastructure, and soil fertility as determined by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) created hereunder, but in no case shall retention by the landowner exceed five (5) hectares. Three (3) hectares may be awarded to each child of the landowner, subject to the following qualifications: (1) that he is at least fifteen (15) years of age; and (2) that he is actually tilling the land or directly managing the farm: provided, that landowners whose lands have been covered by Presidential Decree No. 27 shall be allowed to keep the areas originally retained by them thereunder: provided, further, that original homestead grantees or their direct compulsory heirs who still own the original homestead at the time of the approval of this Act shall retain the same areas 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: provided, however, that in case the area selected for retention by the landowner 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 with similar or comparable features.n 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.n 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.

In all cases, the security of tenure of the farmers or farmworkers on the land prior to the approval of this Act shall be respected.

Upon the effectivity of this Act, any sale, disposition, lease, management, contract or transfer of possession of private lands executed by the original landowner in violation of the Act shall be null and void: provided, however, that those executed prior to this Act shall be valid only when registered with the Register of Deeds within a period of three (3) months after the effectivity of this Act. Thereafter, all Registers of Deeds shall inform the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) within thirty (30) days of any transaction involving agricultural lands in excess of five (5) hectares.

 

 

 

10. How is just compensation determined and what are the modes of payment?

In determining just compensation, the cost of acquisition of the land, the current value of the like properties, its nature, actual use and income, the sworn valuation by the owner, the tax declarations, and the assessment made by government assessors shall be considered. The social and economic benefits contributed by the farmers and the farmworkers and by the Government to the property as well as the non-payment 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, R.A. 6657 as Amended]

 

The modes of payment of just compensation are:

(1) Cash payment

(2) Shares of stock in government-owned or controlled corporations, LBP preferred shares, physical assets or other qualified investments in accordance with guidelines set by the PARC;

(3) Tax credits which can be used against any tax liability;

(4) LBP bonds,