Readings in Philippine History Page 1 of 9

Agrarian Reform

Topic: AGRARIAN REFORM

III. LESSON PROPER

Overview on Philippine’s Agrarian Reform

The Philippines, as an agricultural country, has implemented agrarian reform programs aimed at
addressing land ownership and agricultural productivity issues. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program (CARP), initiated in 1988, is one of the longest-running land reform efforts globally. Its mandate was
to redistribute both private and public lands to peasant beneficiaries, but it achieved mixed results, prompting
an extension under CARPER (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program with Extension and Reforms) in
2009. Despite this, by 2014, approximately 20% of the target land remained undistributed, leaving questions
about the program's future.
Agrarian reform in the Philippines addresses historical inequalities in land ownership and tenancy,
which have disadvantaged Filipino agricultural workers, who make up a significant portion of the workforce.
The program seeks to correct these distortions and promote equitable distribution of land and agricultural
development, crucial in a country where nearly half of the population depends on agriculture for their
livelihood. Genuine reform is essential to maximizing the country's agricultural potential and improving the
lives of farmers, who have long struggled with poverty and inequitable access to land.
The roots of the Philippines' agrarian issues trace back to its colonial history, highlighting the need
for ongoing reform to resolve these long-standing problems and promote rural development.

Evolution of Policies on Agrarian Reform

1. Pre-Spanish Era
• Land ownership was communal, with land belonging to the barangay (village).
• No private land ownership existed; all villagers had the right to till the land.
• Both the tillers and the land were productive, and Filipinos fully enjoyed the fruits of their
labor.
2. Philippines under Spain
• Pueblo agriculture system: Spaniards organized rural communities (pueblos) and
assigned Filipinos to cultivate land owned by the King of Spain.
• Colonial tribute system: Filipinos paid tributes to Spanish authorities through agricultural
products, but were not allowed to own land.
• Law of the Indies: Large tracts of land were granted to religious orders, Spanish military
(as rewards), and encomenderos (land managers).
• Encomienda system: Filipinos worked land but had no ownership; they paid tributes, sold
products at low prices, or surrendered them to encomenderos.
o Exploitation: Farmers faced abusive practices, including forced service and unfair
trade, leading to widespread dissatisfaction.
Readings in Philippine History Page 2 of 9
Agrarian Reform
• Hacienda system (19th century): Developed as the economy became export-driven. A law
in the 1860s required landholders to register their land, benefitting only those aware of the
process, leading to private ownership.
• Agrarian revolts: The shift from communal to exploitative systems fueled Filipino anger,
especially against religious orders, the largest landowners who often increased rents
arbitrarily.
• Philippine Revolution: Agrarian discontent was a key motivator. After the revolution, the
revolutionary government declared large estates, especially friar lands, as government
property.
3. Philippines under Americans
• Land policies for reform: Aimed to address landlessness by increasing small landholders
and distributing ownership to tenant farmers.
o Philippine Bill of 1902: Regulated public land disposal, allowing individuals to own
up to 16 hectares and corporations up to 1,024 hectares. Americans were also
granted rights to own agricultural land.
o Land Registration Act (Act No. 496): Introduced the Torrens system to improve
land title records and conduct accurate land surveys.
o Homestead Program (1903): Allowed tenants to acquire up to 18 hectares of land,
but focused mainly on Northern Luzon and Mindanao.
• Worsening land ownership issues:
o No limit on landholdings and the land-buying process was accessible only to those
who could afford it.
o Friar lands were sold or leased to American and Filipino business interests, not
landless peasants.
o Lack of support mechanisms for land recipients forced many farmers back into
tenancy.
o Wealthy Filipino landowners acquired land from indebted farmers, increasing the
number of tenants.
• Peasant uprisings:
o Widespread discontent led to uprisings such as the Colorum and Sakdal
movements.
o Millenarian movements provided hope for change through militancy.
• Commonwealth government reforms:
o President Quezon's social justice program aimed to purchase haciendas, divide
them, and sell them to tenants.
o Created the National Rice and Corn Corporation (NARICC) to assist peasants in
court and the Court of Industrial Relations to handle landowner-tenant disputes.
o Homestead Program continued through the National Land Settlement
Administration (NLSA), but reforms were hampered by budget constraints and
ongoing peasant uprisings.
Readings in Philippine History Page 3 of 9
Agrarian Reform
• Impact of World War II: Agrarian reforms were halted during the Japanese occupation.
4. Post-war Interventions
• President Roxas (Republic Act No. 34):
o Established a 70-30 sharing arrangement between tenants and landlords.
o Reduced interest on landowner loans to tenants to six percent or less.
o Attempted land redistribution but faced challenges due to lack of support for small
farmers.
• President Elpidio Quirino:
o Created the Land Settlement Development Corporation (LASEDECO) to accelerate
peasant resettlement, later renamed as the National Resettlement and
Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) under President Magsaysay.
• President Ramon Magsaysay:
o Advocated for genuine land reform and passed Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural
Tenancy Act) to govern tenant-landholder relationships and protect tenant rights.
o Established the Court of Agricultural Relations (1955) and the Agricultural Tenancy
Commission to resolve disputes and ensure tenant security.
o Launched the Agricultural Credit and Cooperative Financing Administration
(ACCFA) to support farmers in marketing and provide credit.
o NARRA accelerated resettlement and land distribution to tenants and farmers, also
aimed to resettle members of the Huks rebel movement.
• Challenges:
o Reforms lacked funding and support services.
o Landed elites resisted and criticized the programs, limiting effectiveness.
• President Diosdado Macapagal (Republic Act No. 3844 – Agricultural Land Reform
Code):
o Abolished share tenancy and converted tenant-farmers into lessees and eventually
owner-cultivators.
o Focused on tenant independence, equity, and public land distribution.
o Though comprehensive, the law lacked funding from Congress, limiting its impact
despite successful pilot tests in some provinces.
5. Agrarian Reform Efforts under Marcos
• Martial Law (1972):
o Marcos dissolved the landlord-dominated Congress and expanded executive power
to address structural problems in the countryside.
o Implemented Presidential Decree No. 27 (Code of Agrarian Reform), the
centerpiece of his agrarian reform efforts.
Readings in Philippine History Page 4 of 9
Agrarian Reform
• Operation Land Transfer:
o Targeted rice and corn lands over seven hectares, transferring land ownership to
tenants.
o Provided legal support and services to small farmers through programs like
Masagana '99, which enabled farmers to borrow from banks and purchase three-
hectare plots.
• Loopholes and Resistance:
o Landlords circumvented the law by switching crops (e.g., from rice to coconut or
sugar) to avoid land transfer.
o Lands worked by wage laborers were exempt, allowing landlords to evict tenants
and hire workers instead.
o Increased landlessness excluded many peasants from the program.
• Elite Dominance and Corruption:
o The landed elite employed various methods to retain power.
o Corruption by Marcos and his cronies, many of whom were involved in agriculture,
further hindered the program’s success.
6. Post-1986 Agrarian Reform
• Corazon Aquino’s Administration:
o Agrarian reform was a key focus, despite challenges due to Aquino’s ties to the
wealthy Hacienda Luisita clan.
o Issued Presidential Proclamation 131 and Executive Order 229 in 1987, outlining
her land reform program.
o Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) (Republic Act No. 6657) passed
in 1988, launching the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
▪ Aimed to redistribute agricultural land to tenant-farmers.
▪ Landowners could keep up to five hectares and were compensated fairly.
▪ Corporate landowners could opt for stock redistribution instead of turning
land over to the government.
• Challenges and Limitations:
o Only 22.5% of land redistribution was achieved during Aquino's term due to:
▪ Congress, dominated by landed elites, refusing to fund high compensation
costs.
▪ Stock redistribution controversies, including the case of Hacienda Luisita,
which became a corporation and redistributed stocks to farmers.
• Ramos Administration:
o Accelerated CARP implementation to meet the 10-year deadline despite difficulties
in funding, logistics, and involvement.
o By 1996, only 58.25% of the target land had been distributed.
Readings in Philippine History Page 5 of 9
Agrarian Reform
o Signed Republic Act No. 8532 in 1998 to amend CARL, extending the program by
another 10 years to address unfulfilled land redistribution goals.
7. CARPER (2009-2014):
• CARP Expiration (2008): The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) left 1.2
million farmer beneficiaries and 1.6 million hectares of land pending redistribution by the
time it expired.
• CARPER (Republic Act No. 9700, 2009): CARPER extended CARP for another five years.
Section 30 allowed unresolved cases and land redistribution processes to continue beyond
the original June 30, 2014 deadline.
• Land Distribution (2009-2014): CARPER managed to redistribute 1 million hectares to
900,000 farmer beneficiaries. However, 500,000 hectares remained undistributed after 27
years of agrarian reform.
• Challenges in Agrarian Reform:
o Landowner Resistance: Wealthy landowners opposed the redistribution of private
agricultural lands (PALs), delaying the process.
o Government Inefficiency: Bureaucratic delays, lack of resources, and
inefficiencies in government agencies, such as the Department of Agrarian Reform
(DAR), hindered progress.
o Inactive PARC: The Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC), responsible for
overseeing the program, was inactive from 2006-2016, further stalling progress.
o Collective CLOAs: Many Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) were
issued collectively without proper land partitioning, which sped up implementation
but created long-term complications.
8. Agrarian Reform under Duterte Administration (2016-2022)
• Reactivation of PARC: President Duterte reactivated the Presidential Agrarian Reform
Council (PARC), which revoked stock distribution options and certain agribusiness ventures
that violated agrarian reform laws.
• Executive Order No. 75 (2019): This order focused on redistributing unused government-
owned lands (GOLs), targeting 300,000 hectares of public agricultural land, including the
Yulo King Ranch and Davao Penal Colony.
• CLOA Parcelization: Duterte's administration pushed for the parcelization of collective
CLOAs into individual titles, ensuring better land ownership rights for beneficiaries.
• Support for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs): ARBs received improved access to
credit through the Land Bank of the Philippines. However, despite 4.8 million hectares being
distributed to 2.7 million ARBs, many beneficiaries sold or leased their lands illegally due to
the lack of post-land transfer support services.
• Mixed Record: Some successful agrarian reform cooperatives were formed, but many
ARBs remain uninstalled on their awarded lands or were forcibly removed, showcasing a
mixed record of implementation.
Readings in Philippine History Page 6 of 9
Agrarian Reform
9. Agrarian Reform Under Bongbong Marcos (2022-Present)
• Land Distribution Target: The administration aims to complete land distribution by 2028.
Since July 2022, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has distributed 136,116 land
titles to approximately 138,718 ARBs, covering 164,088 hectares of agricultural land.
• Debt Condonation: The New Agrarian Emancipation Act (RA 11953) condoned unpaid land
amortizations, interests, and penalties owed by agrarian reform beneficiaries. This initiative
benefits around 654,000 ARBs, covering 1.18 million hectares.
• Unused Government Lands: Executive Order No. 75 continues to prioritize the
redistribution of 52,000 hectares of unused government agricultural lands to landless war
veterans, their dependents, and graduates of agriculture-related degrees.
• Modern Farming Support: Marcos emphasizes the need to train a new generation of
farmers in modern agricultural techniques to enhance farm productivity and climate
resilience, ensuring that agrarian reform is supported by modernized agriculture practices.
10. Future Challenges:
• Legal obstacles in land partitioning and persistent opposition from landowners continue to
block meaningful agrarian reform, preventing many farmers from gaining secure ownership
of land. The government needs to prioritize agrarian justice, particularly in rural areas where
workers struggle with land conflicts and insufficient wages. Addressing these long-standing
challenges is vital to improving the livelihoods of marginalized farmers and ensuring the
success of land reform efforts.