Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
A. DEFINITIONS AND TERMS
Reform presupposes that something is defective, hence, needs reformation and
correction.
Land Reform denotes a broad concept of conventional and revolutionary
measures intended to correct certain defects in the relationship between landowner
and tiller regarding their rights and obligations in the cultivation and management
of landholding.
Agrarian Reform refers not only to land reform but also embraces a full range of
measures designed to improve the relationship between landowner and tiller,
employer and employee, corporate management and stockholders, cooperatives
and members, and other farmers organizations including their economic, social and
political relations with the community and the government.
Comments:
Under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1998 (R.A. No. 6657), Agrarian
Reform is defined as the redistribution of lands, regardless of crops or fruits
produced, to farmers and regular farm workers who are landless, irrespective of
tenurial arrangement.
AGRARIAN STRUCTURE- Refers to that complex set of relationships within the
agricultural sector between tenure structure, production structure and structure for
supporting service.
1. Land Tenure Structure
is a concept that connotes one or more types of land tenure system regulating the
rights to ownership and control and usages of land and the duties accompanying
such rights.
a. Agricultural Tenancy refers to the manner of holding agricultural lands.
b. Share Tenancy under this system of landholding, tillers work the land as share
croppers entitled to share in the produce of the land.
c. Leasehold Tenancy is a tenurial system which was instituted by R.A. No. 3844
(Code of Agrarian Reforms) characterized by lessor and lessee relationship which is
created either by written or oral agreement between the parties or impliedly by
acceptance of benefits by the landowner, or by an act of cultivation thru the
toleration of the owner.
Comments:
Leasehold relationship abolished the share tenancy system under the Rice Share
Tenancy Act of 1933 as amended, P.D. No. 27 was issued by then President
Ferdinand Marcos which aside from upholding the leasehold relationship, likewise
ordained the emancipation of tenant-farmers from the bondage of the soil, and
considered them ipso facto owners of the lands they till primarily devoted to rice
and corn.
P.D. No. 27 (Tenants Emancipation Decree) likewise fixed the retention limit for the
landowner an area not exceeding seven (7) hectares, provided, that such landowner
is cultivating or will now cultivate the land, and furthermore, that he does not own
other agricultural lands of more than seven(7) hectares.
d. Amortizing Owner a tenant-farmer whose status had been raised
automatically by operation of law from leasehold tenant to that of amortizing owner,
who makes repayments of the purchase price of the land he tills to the Land Bank.
e. Full Owner or Owner-Cultivator is an amortizing owner (tenant-farmer) who
has completed full payment of his amortization to the Land Bank of the Philippines,
and is therefore entitled to a certificate of title under the Torrens System.
Comments:
Under R.A. No. 3844, as amended by R.A. No. 6389, there are three shifts in the
conversion of the tenurial status of tenant-farmer to full owner, namely: share
tenant to leaseholder to amortizing owner, and from amortizing owner to full owner
(owner-cultivator). An amortizing owner by operation of law (P.D. No. 27) is entitled
to an Emancipation Patent which serves as a farmholders provisional title of
ownership to the land upon completion of his amortization repayments to the Land
Bank, or to the Landowner in cases of farmers who have been amortizing their lands
with the landowner.
f. Owner-Cultivator is the term applied to a tenant farmer who has attained
the status of full owner and qualified beneficiary under the Agrarian Reform Law of
the Philippines.
2. Production Structure
is a concept that refers to the use of the land, nature and method of farm
operation, and the process of production.
3. Structure for Supporting Services
is an agrarian reform measure designed to help the tenant tiller in the availment
of credit facilities, marketing of his products, supplying of seeds, insecticides,
CHAPTER I
AGRICULTURAL LEASEHOLD CONCEPT
A. AGRICULTURAL LAND REFORM CODE (Rep. Act. No. 3844)
REPUBLIC ACT No. 3844 August 8, 1963AN ACT TO ORDAIN THE AGRICULTURAL
LAND REFORM CODE AND TO INSTITUTE LANDREFORMS IN THE
PHILIPPINES...REPUBLIC ACT No. 3844AN ACT TO ORDAIN THE AGRICULTURAL LAND
REFORM CODE AND TO INSTITUTE LANDREFORMS IN THE PHILIPPINES, INCLUDING
THE ABOLITION OF TENANCY AND THECHANNELING OF CAPITAL INTO INDUSTRY,
PROVIDE FOR THE NECESSARYIMPLEMENTING AGENCIES, APPROPRIATE FUNDS
THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Section 1. Title- This Act shall be known as the Agricultural Land Reform Code.
1. PREFATORY STATEMENTS
The thrust of this legislation is the drastic abolition of share tenancy system. It
provided for the automatic conversion of the sharecropper to the status of an
agricultural lessee, governed by the system of agricultural leasehold which is
established either:
a. by agreement of the parties, whether oral or written, or
b. by operation of law.
The Agricultural Land Reform Code still finds application to the following:
a. areas which have not come within the operation and implementation of P.D. No.
27;
b. agricultural laborers subject to the provisions of the Labor Code;
c. organization and operation of the Land Bank;
d. provisions on resettlements of farmers;
e. right to pre-emption and redemption, with respect to land-owners retained area,
should such landowner decide to sell his tenanted / leased retained area, the tenant
has the preferential right to purchase and / or redeem the same in case the land is
sold to a third person without the tenants knowledge;
f. right of the tenant / lessee to 75% share from the standing crops;
Three shifts in the mode of acquisition
a. The automatic conversion of the status of share tenant to leaseholder
characterized by payment of fixed rentals;
b. The second shift which is the conversion of the leaseholder to amortizing owner,
characterized by the Land Bank purchase of the property with a concomitant
obligation imposed on the tenant-lessee to pay Land Bank on amortization basis the
purchase price of the farmholding;
c. The third shift which converts the status of an amortizaing owner into full owner
or owner-cultivator upon full payment of the remaining balance of the amortization.
Section 3. Composition of Code
1. An agricultural leasehold system to replace all existing share tenancy systems in
agriculture;
2. A system of crediting rental as amortization payment on purchase price;
3. A declaration of rights for agricultural labor;
4. A machinery for the acquisition and equitable distribution of agricultural land;
5. An institution to finance the acquisition and distribution of agricultural land;
6. A machinery to extend credit and similar assistance to agricultural lessees,
amortizing owners-cultivators, owners-cultivator and cooperatives;
means a person who by himself and with the aid available from within his
immediate farm household, cultivates the land belonging to, or possessed by,
another with the latters consent.
Agricultural lessor
means a person, lets or grants to another the cultivation and use of his land for a
price certain.
Agricultural year
means the period of time required for raising a particular agricultural product.
Farm implements
means hand tools or machineries in a farm enterprise.
Immediate farm household
- means the members of the family of the lessee or lessor and other persons who
are dependent upon him for support.
Proven farm practices
means sound farming practices.
Personal cultivation
means cultivation by the lessee or lessor in person.
Work animals
means animals ordinarily employed in a farm enterprise.
Agrarian dispute
means any controversy relating to terms, tenure or condition of employment, or
concerning an association or representation of persons in negotiating, maintaining,
changing or seeking to arrange terms on conditions of employment.
Agricultural owner-cultivator
means any person who, personally cultivates his own land.
Fair rental value
means the value not in excess of allowable depreciation plus 6% interest per
annum.
Incapacity
means any cause or circumstance which prevents the lessee from fulfilling his
contractual and other obligations under the Code.
Modes of Land Tenure Allowed under R.A. No. 3844
1. Leasehold system
characterized by a tenant farmer personally and actually cultivating the farm
holding under a leasehold relationship whereby the lessee pays a fixed amount of
rental whether in cash or in kind to the lessor.
2. Share tenancy
3. Owner-cultivatorship
4. Cooperative-cultivatorship
which is a form of agrarian relationship among members of a cooperative who
work and live on the land as tillers in common.
5. Labor administration
which employs laborers and workers on a daily wage basis, and engaged in a large
scale plantation farming of permanent crops by their respective managers.
How Leasehold Relation is Established
1. by agreement of the parties
2. by operation of law implementation of R.A. No. 3844 providing for the abolition
of share tenancy.
Parties to Leasehold Relation
1. The landholder
2. The person who personally cultivates the land.
ESSENCE OF LEASEHOLD RELATION
1. It is essentially personal, in the sense that it cannot be exercised by third persons
other than the lessor himself, and the lessee who personally cultivates the land;
2. It has the nature of an in rem or real relationship, because it imposes a burden
upon the land subject of the landholding and continues to exist even by the death
or incapacity of either party, or the expiration of the agreement.
Tenurial Arrangement of Leasehold
It makes it a penal offense to eject a tenant illegally from his holding except upon
approval of the court.
Doctrine on security of land tenure
Security of land tenure the agricultural leasehold relation under this Code, shall not
be extinguished by mere expiration of the term or period in the leasehold contract,
in case the agricultural lessor sells, alienates of transfers the legal possession of the
landholding, the purchaser or transferee thereof shall be subrogated to the rights
and substituted to the obligations of the agricultural lessor. In order to possess the
status of a de jure tenant, the following essential requisites must concur, to wit:
1. the parties are the landowner and the tenant;
2. the subject is agricultural land;
3. there is consent;
4. the purpose is agricultural production;
5. there is personal cultivation;
6. there is sharing of harvests. The absence of one does not make an occupant of a
parcel of land or a cultivator thereof, a de jure tenant, hence cannot invoke the
defense of security of tenure.
What then constitutes as family-size farm so as to give rise to tenancy
relationship?
Family-size farm
an area of farmland that permits efficient use of labor and capital resources of the
farm family and will produce an income sufficient to provide a modest standard of
living to meet a farm familys needs for food, clothing, shelter, and education with
possible allowance for payment of yearly installments on the land, and reasonable
reserves to absorb yearly fluctuations in income.
What now is the effect of the law to cultivator-tiller of a less than familysize farms?
Such landholder-tiller or tiller-sharer is at most considered as a mere caretaker
before the eyes of the law who is not entitled to the security of tenure.
Should the landholding be sold or alienated to a new owner, what happens
to the rights and obligations of the transferee and his heirs?
The transferee and his heirs are subrogated to the rights and obligations of the
former landowner. However, the change of landowner cannot be allowed to raise the
corporations to meet the demands of the farm workers for wage increase and better
working conditions.
Irrigation Facilities
Permanent irrigation system may be constructed at the expense of the lessor:
1. Should the lessor refuse to bear the expenses, he should not be entitled to the
increase in rental and shall upon the termination of the leasehold relationship pay
the lessee or his the reasonable value of the improvements at the time of the
termination;
2. Should the lessor bear expenses he shall be entitled to an increase in the rental
proportionate to the resultant increase in production.
Management of Irrigation System
1. When constructed and operated by the government. Lessees either as individuals
or groups shall allocate not more than 25% of their rental collection to the
government.
2.Irrigation systems installed and / or constructed at expense of landowner or
agricultural lessor acquisition of these irrigation system shall be initiated by the
DAR to be financed by the Land Bank.
Lease of Rice lands and Lands Devoted to Other Crops
1. 25% of the average normal harvest shall be the amount of rental for rice lands
or estimated normal harvest during the three (3) agricultural years immediately
preceding the establishment of the leasehold after deducting the expenses for
seeds, cost of harvesting, threshing, loading, hauling and processing;
2. Average normal harvest for three (3) preceding years.
3. No agreement as to rental the court (now DAR) shall fix a provisional rental until
fixed rental is determined within (30) days from submission of the case for decision.
Amortization Payment for Land under Leasehold:
The rentals paid by the lessee to the lessor at the place agreed upon by the parties
shall be credited as amortization payments for the purchase price of the landholding
titled by the leasee:
a). When the landholding is expropriated by the government;