AGRARIAN LAW

by
Barte

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 farmworkers 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 services.

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
sharecroppers 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