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Agrarian Law Reviewer Prelims

farmers and regular farmworkers who are
landless,
irrespective
of
tenurial
arrangement, to include the totality of
factors and support services designed to lift
the economic status of the beneficiaries and
all other arrangements alternative to the
physical redistribution of lands, such as
production
or
profit
sharing,
labor
administration, and the distribution of shares
of stocks, which will allow beneficiaries to
receive a just share of the fruits if the land
they work.

What is agrarian law?

Refers to the distribution of public

agricultural
lands,
large
estates
and
regulation of the relationship between the
landowner and the farmer who works on the
land. It embraces all laws that govern and
regulate the rights and relationship over
agricultural lands between landowners,
tenants, lessees or agricultural workers.

What is the primary objective of agrarian laws?

To breakup agricultural lands and transform

them into economic-size farms to be owned
by the farmers themselves, with the end in
view of uplifting their socio-economic status.
An economic-size farm has an area of
3 hectares. Why? Anything in excess
of 3 hectares, farmers can no longer
support financially and manage the
tillage properly.

What are the pertinent laws dealing with

agrarian law?
1.
2.

3.

4.
5.
6.
7.

RA 4113 Sugar Tenancy Act

RA 1199 Agricultural Share Tenancy Act
Repealed all the earlier tenancy laws
except the Sugar Tenancy Act.
RA 3844 Agricultural Land Reform Code
Abolished
share
tenancy.
It
established the agricultural leasehold
system.
Ra 6389 Code of Agrarian Reforms
PD No. 27 Tenant Emancipation Law
RA 6657 CARP
Effectivity date is June 15, 1988
RA 9700 CARPER (Extensions with Reforms)
Effective date is August 7, 2009

What is the coverage under PD No. 27?

Privately owned farms primarily devoted to

rice and corn
However, an increase in agitation
was observed.
This led to the creation of RA 6657 to
cover
lands
which
were
not
previously covered.

Note: CARP only applies to agricultural lands. It does

not apply to lands classified as residential,
commercial, industrial, mineral, or forest land.
Agrarian reform not only includes distribution
of lands to landless farmers and regular
farmworkers, it also includes:
1.
2.
3.

Labor administration
Profit-sharing
Stock Distribution

Why? There is not enough agricultural land to

distribute to all the farmers.
What is an agricultural land?

Refers to land devoted to agricultural

activities. It contemplates lands that are
arable and suitable for farming.
NATALIA REALTY v. DAR

Facts: Natalia Realty owns 125 hectares of land in

Antipolo. PD 1637 set aside 20,312 hectares of land
as townsite areas to absorb the population overspill
in the metropolis. The Natalia properties were
situated in areas proclaimed as townsite reservation.
Issue: WON the underdeveloped lands of Natalia
Realty is covered by CARL.
Ruling: No. They are not agricultural lands. It ceased
to be agricultural lands because of PD 1637
proclaiming their inclusion as townsite reservation.
Is CARP unconstitutional?

What is agrarian reform?

Refers to the redistribution of lands,

regardless of crops or fruits produced to

Rustum Doctora (Tokie) 3B

University of San Agustin
College of Law

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Go Hard or Go Home

No. It is a valid exercise of police power of

the state.1

Agrarian reform does not guarantee improvement in

the lives of farmers, it merely provides for a
possibility in uplifting their lives.
What is an Agrarian Dispute?

Refers to any controversy relating to tenurial

arrangements, whether leasehold, tenancy,
stewardship or otherwise, over lands devoted
to agriculture, including disputes concerning
farmworkers' associations or representation
of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining,
changing, or seeking to arrange terms or
conditions of such tenurial arrangements.
It includes any controversy relating to
compensation of lands acquired under this
Act and other terms and conditions of
transfer of ownership from landowners to
farmworkers, tenants and other agrarian
reform beneficiaries, whether the disputants
stand in the proximate relation of farm
operator and beneficiary, landowner and
tenant, or lessor and lessee.

What is an idle or abandoned land?

refers to any agricultural land not cultivated,

tilled or developed to produce any crop nor
devoted to any specific economic purpose
continuously for a period of three (3) years
immediately prior to the receipt of
notice of acquisition by the government
as provided under this Act, but does not
include land that has become permanently or
regularly
devoted
to
non-agricultural
purposes.
It does not include land which has become
unproductive by reason of force majeure or
any other fortuitous event, provided that
prior to such event, such land was previously
used for agricultural or other economic
purpose.

Differentiate reclassification from conversion

Conversion is the act of changing the current

use of a piece of agricultural land into some

1 Association of Small Landowners v. Agrarian Reform

175 SCRA 343

Rustum Doctora (Tokie) 3B

University of San Agustin
College of Law

Agrarian Law Reviewer Prelims

other use as approved by the Department of
Agrarian Reform.
Reclassification, on the other hand, is the act
of specifying how agricultural lands shall be
utilized for non-agricultural uses such as
residential, industrial, and commercial, as
embodied in the land use plan, subject to the
requirements and procedure for land use
conversion.

Note: Accordingly, a mere reclassification of

agricultural land does not automatically allow a
landowner to change its use and thus cause the
ejectment of the tenants. He has to undergo the
process of conversion before he is permitted to
use the agricultural land for other purposes.
What are
Reform?
1.
2.

the

lands

covered

by

Agrarian

All public and private agricultural lands; and

Other lands of public domain suitable for
agriculture2

What are lands that are NOT covered by

Agrarian Reform?
1.
2.

3.

Private lands with a total area of five

hectares and below3
Lands actually, directly and exclusively used
and found to be necessary for parks, wildlife,
forest
reserves,
reforestation,
fish
sanctuaries
and
breeding
grounds,
watersheds, and mangroves;
Lands actually, directly and exclusively used
and found to be necessary for:
a. national defense;
b. school sites and campuses;
c. including experimental farm stations
operated by public or private schools
for educational purposes;
Central Mindanao v. DARAB
d. seeds and seedlings research and
pilot production centers;
e. church
sites
and
convents
appurtenant thereto
f. mosque sites and Islamic centers
appurtenant thereto;
g. communal
burial
grounds
and
cemeteries, penal colonies;

2 Section 4, As amended by RA 9700

3 Ibid
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Go Hard or Go Home
h.
i.
j.

penal farms actually worked by the

inmates;
government and private research
and quarantine centers; and
all lands with eighteen percent (18%)
slope and over except those
already developed

How
long
was
CARP/CARPER?

the

implementation

Requisite for the exercise of the right of

retention

of

Section 7 of RA 9700 extended it until June

30, 2014.

Right of Retention

The landowner has the right to retain not

more than 5 hectares of his landholdings.
This retained area need not be
personally
cultivated
by
the
landowner cultivation can be done
thru labor administration.4

Can a landowner who has already exercised his

retention rights under PD No. 27 be entitle to
the retention right under the CARL?
Two things:
1.

2.

If the landowner has already exercised his

right of retention under PD No. 27, he can no
longer exercise the right of retention under
CARL.
If the landowner chooses to retain 5 hectares
under the CARL, the seven hectares he
previously retained under PD No. 27 shall be
immediately paced under the coverage of
the CARL.5

Can spouses retain 5 hectares each under the

CARL?

If the property regime is conjugal or absolute

community
The spouses can retain only 5
hectares.
If the property regime is separation of
property

The land must be compact and contiguous.

Provided that in case the area
selected for retention by the
landowner is tenanted, the tenant
shall have the option to choose
whether to remain therein or be a
beneficiary in the same or another
agricultural land with similar or
comparable features

What happens if the tenant chooses to remain

in the retained area?

In case the tenant chooses to remain in the

retained area, he shall be considered a
leaseholder and shall lose his right to be a
beneficiary under this Act.

What
happens
otherwise?

if

the

tenant

chooses

In case the tenant chooses to be a

beneficiary in another agricultural land, he
loses his right as a leaseholder to the land
retained by the landowner.

Is there a period wherein the tenant needs to

exercise this right?

It depends:
1.

Agrarian Law Reviewer Prelims

Each spouse can retain 5 hectares for
a total of 10 hectares.

The tenant must exercise this option within a

period of one (1) year from the time the
landowner manifests his choice of the area
for retention.

What happens if the landowner, after the

effectivity of CARL, alienates his lands?

4 Sec 2 (b), DAR Admin Order No. 05-00

Any sale, disposition, lease, management,

contract or transfer of possession of private
lands executed by the original landowner in
violation of the Act shall be null and void.

5 Sec 3 (b), DAR Admin Order No. 05-00

How about if it was done before the effectivity

of CARL?

2.

Rustum Doctora (Tokie) 3B

University of San Agustin
College of Law

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Go Hard or Go Home

That those executed prior to this Act shall be

valid only when registered with the Register
of Deeds within a period of three (3) months
after the effectivity of this Act.

1.
2.

DAEZ v. CA 325 SCRA 856

The right of the landowner to choose which area of
land to be retained must prevail.
What if the land that the landowner chooses to
retain is covered by an EP (Emancipation
Patent) or CLOA (Certificate of Land Ownership
Award)?

If the landowner has been deprived of his

right of retention, he may file a petition for
cancellation of the EP or COA that may have
been issued to the tenants.
Under A.O. No. 2, series of 1994, an EP or
CLOA may be cancelled if the land covered is
later found to be part of the landowners
retained area.

What is the effect if the tenant chooses to

remain in the retained area?

Suppose the area chosen by the landowner is

tenanted, what happens to the tenant?
The tenant may choose to be:
1.
2.

Remain therein; or
Be a beneficiary in the same or another
agricultural land with similar or comparable
features.

Note: the tenant must exercise this right within a

period of 1 year from the time the landowner
manifests his choice of the area for retention.6
Note: Under the law, it is only the tenant that can
exercise this right. There must exist a landlordtenant relationship. Mere occupation or cultivation of
an agricultural land will NOT ipso facto make the
tiller an agricultural tenant. The person claiming to
be a tenant must prove by substantial evidence the
existence of a landlord-tenant relationship. 7

Agrarian Law Reviewer Prelims

The landowner has engaged a person to
personally cultivate an agricultural land; and
The landowner is compensated in terms of
share in the produce (share tenancy) or in
terms of a price certain or ascertainable in
produce or in money or both. (Leasehold
tenancy).

He will no longer be considered a tenant but

an agricultural lessee.
He will no longer be qualify as an
agrarian reform beneficiary.
He is entitled to:
Peaceful possession and enjoyment
of the land;
Manage and work on the land in a
manner and method of cultivation
and harvest;
Deal with millers and processors and
attend t the issuance of quedans and
warehouse receipts for the produce
due him.
Be afforded a homelot;
Be indemnified for the cost and
expenses incurred in cultivation in
case he surrenders or abandons his
landholding for just cause or ejected
therefrom.
Inform the agricultural lessor of any
trespass within a reasonable time if
any trespass.
Notify the agricultural lessor at least
3 days before the date of harvesting.

How is the agricultural leasehold extinguished?

1.
2.

Abandonment or voluntary surrender of the

land holding by the lessee; or
Absence of successor (i.e., surviving spouse,
eldest direct descendant by consanguinity or
next eldest descendant in the order of their
age) in the event of death or permanent
incapacity of the lessee.

This can be proved by the following elements:

6 Section 6, RA No. 6657

7 Rodriguez v. Salvador 651 SCRA 429
Rustum Doctora (Tokie) 3B
University of San Agustin
College of Law

Note: The leasehold relation is not necessarily

extinguished by death or incapacity of the lessee. If
the lessee dies or is permanently incapacitated, the
leasehold continues between the agricultural lessor
and the person who can cultivate the landholding
personally. The lessor can choose from the following:
1.

The surviving spouse;

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NeverGo
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full or
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.Go Home
2.
3.

The
eldest
direct
descendant
by
consanguinity; or
The next eldest descendant or descendants
in the order of their age.

Agrarian Law Reviewer Prelims

Likewise, the agricultural leasehold is not terminated

by mere expiration of term or period in a leasehold
contract. It is neither terminated by the transfer of
ownership or legal possession of the landholding. If
the agricultural lessor transfers the ownership or
legal possession of the landholding, the transferee
becomes the agricultural lessor.
Effect if the Tenant chooses to be a Beneficiary

He loses his right to be a lessee of the land

retained by the landowner.

Premature Alienation of Agrarian Lands

One of the grounds to terminate farmer beneficiary.
Only when the land is reclassified could the
farmer beneficiaries alienate the land.
Children of the Landowner are entitled to 3
hectares each provided that:
a. The child is at least 15 years old
b. The child is actually tilling the land or directly
managing the farm.
Note: The child need not directly or personally till
the land, it is enough that he directly manages the
farm.
A qualified child who owns less than five (5) hectares
of agricultural lands is still entitled to an award of
his/her parent's landholding provided that his/her
total area, including the area to be awarded under
CARP, shall not exceed the five (5) hectare
ownership ceiling.
For example, the child already owns 3 hectares of
agri land, he can still be awarded two hectares from
his parents landholding.
Lands awarded to qualified children of
landowners may not be sold, transferred or
conveyed within a period of 10 years, except:
1.
2.
3.
4.

hereditary succession;
to the government;
to the Land Bank of the Philippines; or
to other qualified beneficiaries

Rustum Doctora (Tokie) 3B

University of San Agustin
College of Law

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