The Commonwealth Years

The Commonwealth years are the period of time where Manuel L. Quezon served as the
president of the Republic of the Philippines. During this period, the gap between the tenants and
the landlords widen. The tenants are deprived of their rights. The haciendas became poorly
managed due to the preference of the land owners to go in the cities and leaving their farms idle
or through katiwalas. The farmers also experienced excessive fines and unfair taxation, and
due to the lack of credit and marketing of rice systems, the famers received a very low selling
price. Because of these happenings, peasant uprising spread throughout the country. Under the
rule of President Quezon, land reform programs are realized to be implemented immediately.

These are laws on Agrarian Reform which are passed during this administration:
RA 4054 or the Rice Tenancy Law- the main purpose of this law is to legalize the 50-50
share between the landlord and the tenant with support to the protection of the tenants
against abuses of landlords. This law was hardly implemented due to the fact that most
municipal councils were powerful hacienderos themselves.
The 1935 Constitution- which provides on the implementation of social justice and
expropriation of lands for distribution to tenants.
Commonwealth Act No. 461- deals with the dismissal of a tenant to be approved first by
the Tenancy Division of the Department of Justice.
Commonwealth Act No.608- deals with the security of tenure between the landlord and
the tenant. Prohibiting landlords to eject tenants without clear legal grounds.
Commonwealth Act No.441- created the National Land Settlement Administration to
continue the Homestead Program.

During this era, the National Rice and Corn Corporation (NARICC) were established to
defend peasants in court battles for their rights to the land. The Court of Industrial Relations
(CIR) was set up to exercise jurisdiction over the disagreements between tenant and landowner
relationship. The programs are all ready to be set up, but due to the lack of budget the program
never succeeded. As already told in the beginning, most landlords did not comply with the RA
4054. The uprising of the peasants continued, until it was stopped by the outbreak of World War
II.