Timeline of Agrarian Reform

 Pre-Spanish Period  Filipinos in the Philippines lived in communities or

barangays governed by chiefs or datus before the
arrival of the Spaniards. Nevertheless, despite the
presence of several social classes, almost everyone
had access to the harvest of the land. Rice was used
as the primary form of payment because there was no
money. In here, barter system exist wherein goods
are traded for another goods.
 Spanish Period  The idea of encomienda system was brought to the
Philippines by the Spaniards. According to this
system, encomenderos are obligated to protect their
encomienda from outside threats, uphold internal
tranquility and order and assist the missionaries. In
return, the encomendero gained the authority or
opportunity to demand tribute from the indios
(natives) and let them involve in a forced and unpaid
labor.
 First (1st) Philippine  In the Malolos Constitution, which was adopted in
Republic 1899 to form the First Philippine Republic, Gen.
Emilio Aguinaldo stated his desire to seize large
estates, particularly the estate referred to as the friar
lands. Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo's idea was never
implemented because the Republic didn't last long.
 American Period  Philippine Bill of 1902 – Set the limit on the
hectarage of private individuals and corporations may
own: 16 has. for private individuals and 1,024 has.
for corporations.
 Land Registration Act of 1902 (Act No. 496) –
Provided for a comprehensive registration of land
titles under the Torrens system.
 Public Land Act of 1903 – Introduced the homestead
system in the Philippines.
 Tenancy Act of 1933 (Act No. 4054 and 4113) –
Regulated relations between landowners and tenants
of rice (50%-50% sharing) and sugar cane lands.
 Commonwealth Period  1935 Constitution
 Commonwealth Act No. 178 (An Amendment to
Rice Tenancy Act No. 4045), Nov. 13, 1936 –
Provided for certain controls in the landowner-tenant
relations.
 National Rice and Corn Corporation (NARIC), 1936
– Established the price of rice and corn thereby help
the poor tenants as well as consumers.
 Commonwealth Act. No. 461, 1937 – Specified
reasons for the discharge of tenants and only with the
approval of the Tenancy Division of the Department
of Justice.
 Rural Program Administration, created March 2,
1939 – Provided the purchase and lease of haciendas
and their sale and lease to the tenants.
 Commonwealth Act No. 441 enacted on June 3, 1939
– Created the National Settlement Administration
with a capital stock of P20,000,000.
 Japanese Occupation  Hukbalahap ruled over large portions of Central
Luzon; landowners who sided with the Japanese saw
 their estates taken over by peasants, while those who
sided with the Huks received fixed rents in favor of
the tenants. Unfortunately, the conclusion of the
conflict also meant that the gains made by the
peasants were over. Peasants' and workers' groups
became more powerful when the Japanese invaded
the Philippines in 1942. Many peasants picked up
guns and joined the HUKBALAHAP (Hukbo ng
Bayan Laban sa Hapon), an anti-Japanese
organization.
Philippine Republic  Republic Act No. 34 - Established the 70%-30%
 President Manuel A. sharing arrangements and regulating share-tenancy
Roxas (1946-1948) contracts.
 Republic Act No. 55 - Provided for a more effective
protection against arbitrary ejectment of tenants.
Philippine Republic  Executive Order No. 355 issued on October 23, 1950
 President Elpidio R. - Replaced the National Land Settlement
Quirino (1948-1953) Administration with Land Settlement Development
Corporation (LASEDECO) which takes over the
responsibilities of the Agricultural Machinery
Equipment Corporation and the Rice and Corn
Production Administration.
Philippine Republic  Republic Act No. 1160 of 1954 - Abolished the
 President Ramon LASEDECO and established the National
Magsaysay (1953- Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration
1957) (NARRA) to resettle dissidents and landless farmers.
 Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy Act of
1954) - Governed the relationship between
landowners and tenant farmers by organizing share-
tenancy and leasehold system. The law provided the
security of tenure of tenants. It also created the Court
of Agrarian Relations.
 Republic Act No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of 1955) -
Created the Land Tenure Administration (LTA)
which was responsible for the acquisition and
distribution of large tenanted rice and corn lands over
200 hectares for individuals and 600 hectares for
corporations.
 Republic Act No. 821 (Creation of Agricultural
Credit Cooperative Financing Administration) -
Provided small farmers and share tenants’ loans with
low interest rates of six to eight percent.
Philippine Republic  Continued the program of President Ramon
 President Carlos P. Magsaysay. No new legislation passed.
Garcia (1957-1961)
Philippine Republic  Republic Act No. 3844 of August 8, 1963
 President Diosdado P. (Agricultural Land Reform Code) - Abolished share
Macapagal (1961- tenancy, institutionalized leasehold, set retention
1965) limit at 75 hectares, invested rights of preemption and
redemption for tenant farmers, provided for an
administrative machinery for implementation,
institutionalized a judicial system of agrarian cases,
incorporated extension, marketing and supervised
credit system of services of farmer beneficiaries.
Philippine Republic  Republic Act No. 6389, (Code of Agrarian Reform)
 President Ferdinand E. and RA No. 6390 of 1971 - Created the Department
of Agrarian Reform and the Agrarian Reform Special
 Marcos (1965-1986) Account Fund.
 Presidential Decree No. 2, September 26, 1972 -
Declared the country under land reform program. It
enjoined all agencies and offices of the government
to extend full cooperation and assistance to the DAR.
It also activated the Agrarian Reform Coordinating
Council.
 Presidential Decree No. 27, October 21, 1972 -
Restricted land reform scope to tenanted rice and
corn lands and set the retention limit at 7 hectares.
Philippine Republic  Executive Order No. 228, July 16, 1987 – Declared
 President Corazon C. full ownership to qualified farmer-beneficiaries
Aquino (1986-1992) covered by PD 27. It also determined the value
remaining unvalued rice and corn lands subject of PD
27 and provided for the manner of payment by the
FBs and mode of compensation to landowners.
 Executive Order No. 229, July 22, 1987 – Provided
mechanism for the implementation of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
 Proclamation No. 131, July 22, 1987 – Instituted the
CARP as a major program of the government. It
provided for a special fund known as the Agrarian
Reform Fund (ARF), with an initial amount of Php50
billion to cover the estimated cost of the program
from 1987-1992.
 Executive Order No. 129-A, July 26, 1987 –
streamlined and expanded the power and operations
of the DAR.
 Republic Act No. 6657, June 10, 1988
(Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law) – An act
which became effective June 15, 1988 and instituted
a comprehensive agrarian reform program to promote
social justice and industrialization providing the
mechanism for its implementation and for other
purposes.
 Executive Order No. 405, June 14, 1990 – Vested in
the Land Bank of the Philippines the responsibility to
determine land valuation and compensation for all
lands covered by CARP.
 Executive Order No. 407, June 14, 1990 –
Accelerated the acquisition and distribution of
agricultural lands, pasture lands, fishponds, agro-
forestry lands and other lands of the public domain
suitable for agriculture.
Philippine Republic  Republic Act No. 7881, 1995 – Amended certain
 President Fidel V. provisions of RA 6657 and exempted fishponds and
Ramos (1992-1998) prawns from the coverage of CARP.
 Republic Act No. 7905, 1995 – Strengthened the
implementation of the CARP.
 Executive Order No. 363, 1997 – Limits the type of
lands that may be converted by setting conditions
under which limits the type of lands that may be
converted by setting conditions under which specific
categories of agricultural land are either absolutely
non-negotiable for conversion or highly restricted for
conversion.
 Republic Act No. 8435, 1997 (Agriculture and
 Fisheries Modernization Act AFMA) – Plugged the
legal loopholes in land use conversion.
 Republic Act 8532, 1998 (Agrarian Reform Fund
Bill) – Provided an additional Php50 billion for
CARP and extended its implementation for another
10 years.
Philippine Republic  Executive Order No. 151, September 1999 (Farmer’s
 President Joseph E. Trust Fund) – Allowed the voluntary consolidation of
Estrada (1998-2000) small farm operation into medium and large-scale
integrated enterprise that can access long-term
capital.
Philippine Republic  Land Tenure Improvement - DAR will remain
 President Gloria vigorous in implementing land acquisition and
Macapacal-Arroyo distribution component of CARP. The DAR will
(2000-2010) improve land tenure system through land distribution
and leasehold.
 Provision of Support Services - CARP not only
involves the distribution of lands but also included
package of support services which includes: credit
assistance, extension services, irrigation facilities,
roads and bridges, marketing facilities and training
and technical support programs.
 Infrastrucre Projects - DAR will transform the
agrarian reform communities (ARCs), an area
focused and integrated delivery of support services,
into rural economic zones that will help in the
creation of job opportunities in the countryside.
 KALAHI ARZone - The KALAHI Agrarian Reform
(KAR) Zones were also launched. These zones
consist of one or more municipalities with
concentration of ARC population to achieve greater
agro-productivity.
 Agrarian Justice - To help clear the backlog of
agrarian cases, DAR will hire more paralegal officers
to support undermanned adjudicatory boards and
introduce quota system to compel adjudicators to
work faster on agrarian reform cases. DAR will
respect the rights of both farmers and landowners.
Philippine Republic  Executive Order No. 26, Series of 2011 - Mandate
 President Benigno the Department of Agriculture-Department of
Aquino III (2010-2016) Environment and Natural Resources-Department of
Agrarian Reform Convergence Initiative to develop a
National Greening Program in cooperation with other
government agencies.
Philippine Republic  Second (2nd) phase of agrarian reform - Landless
 President Rodrigo Roa farmers would be awarded with undistributed lands
Duterte (2016-2022) under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
(CARP).
 Oplan Zero Backlog