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History PG 84-86

Agrarian reform in the Philippines seeks to redistribute land, enhance food production, and improve the lives of farmers, addressing historical landownership issues stemming from colonial rule. The recent SPLIT Project aims to convert shared land titles into individual ownership, benefiting around 750,000 farmers and promoting investment in agriculture. Historical land systems under Spanish and American rule exacerbated inequities, necessitating ongoing reform efforts to support small farmers and ensure fair land distribution.

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10 views3 pages

History PG 84-86

Agrarian reform in the Philippines seeks to redistribute land, enhance food production, and improve the lives of farmers, addressing historical landownership issues stemming from colonial rule. The recent SPLIT Project aims to convert shared land titles into individual ownership, benefiting around 750,000 farmers and promoting investment in agriculture. Historical land systems under Spanish and American rule exacerbated inequities, necessitating ongoing reform efforts to support small farmers and ensure fair land distribution.

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24100128
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Policies on Agrarian Reform

Agrarian reform aims to change the farming system by redistributing


land, increasing food production, and improving farmers’ lives. In the
Philippines, it focuses on fixing unfair landownership problems that started
during the colonial period. Agrarian reform aims to balance land
ownership and farming by giving fair access to land, helping reduce
poverty among farmers. It involves distributing land, securing farmers’
rights, and introducing modern farming methods to improve productivity.

In the Philippines, agrarian reform efforts continue to adapt. A recent


program called the Support for Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling
(SPLIT) Project began in 2020. It aims to split shared land titles into
individual certificates to improve farmers’ ownership rights. Covering 1.3
million hectares and helping about 750,000 farmers, the project makes
land ownership official, encouraging investment in farming. This program
addresses long-standing issues like unclear land rights and is important
for fighting poverty and promoting growth in rural areas.

Landownership in the Philippines Under Spain

During Spanish rule, the pueblo agricultural system was introduced


to organize rural communities and make governing and tax collection
easier. While Filipinos worked the land, they didn’t own it, as all land was
controlled by the Spanish Crown.

The encomienda system gave Spanish officials, called


encomenderos, the power to manage the land, collect taxes, and control
the labor of Filipino farmers. In the 19th century, this system turned into
the hacienda system, which focused on growing cash crops for global
markets. One major problem was that Filipinos were overworked, forced to
sell their crops at low prices, and denied ownership of the land. This
caused many revolts due to growing frustration. The hacienda system’s
legacy of large landholdings persisted into the modern era, requiring
extensive reform efforts like those seen in agrarian reform programs post-
independence.

Landownership in the Philippines Under the Americans


The Americans tried to solve land problems by giving land to Filipino
farmers, but their policies mostly helped rich people and big businesses.
The Philippine Bill of 1902 set limits on how much land individuals (16
hectares) and corporations (1,024 hectares) could own, but it didn’t fix the
unfair system. The Torrens System made land title registration easier but
was only accessible to those who had money and knowledge. The
Homestead Program allowed some landless Filipinos to get farmland, but it
was limited to certain areas and didn’t provide enough support for
farmers. As a result, wealthy landowners and companies took control of
large amounts of land, and many farmers couldn’t afford to keep the land
they got, forcing them to become tenants again. This led to protests like
the Colorum and Sakdal movements. These issues are still being
addressed today through programs like CARP and SPLIT, which aim to
distribute land more fairly and help small farmers succeed.

REFERENCES:

Department of Agrarian Reform. (2020). Support to Parcelization of


Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project.

Lantin, R. M. (2018). Agricultural mechanization in the Philippines.

Massarath, F. (2018). Agricultural development in the Philippines. The


Borgen Project.

World Bank. (2020). Philippines: New Project to Help Provide


Individual Land Titles to Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries.

World Bank. (2020). Vibrant Agriculture is Key to Faster Recovery


and Poverty Reduction.

World Bank. (2024). Philippines: Agricultural development and prospects.

Definition of Terms
Agrarian Reform: A broad process aimed at restructuring the
agricultural sector to ensure equitable land distribution and enhance
productivity

Encomienda System: A Spanish colonial system where land was


entrusted to encomenderos to manage while extracting tributes from
indigenous workers.

Hacienda System: A plantation system that replaced communal or


smallholder farming, focusing on export-oriented agriculture.

Torrens System: A legal method for registering land titles to ensure clear
ownership but often inaccessible to the poor.

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