Agrarian Reforms PDF

AGRARIAN REFORMS EDELITHA L DANCEL AGRARIAN REFORM DEFINED  It sought to redistribute land not only to farmers and farm workers but also to other landless poor. AGRARIAN REFORMS POLICIES  Agrarian reform is centered on the relationship between production and the dist...

AGRARIAN REFORMS EDELITHA L DANCEL AGRARIAN REFORM DEFINED  It sought to redistribute land not only to farmers and farm workers but also to other landless poor. AGRARIAN REFORMS POLICIES  Agrarian reform is centered on the relationship between production and the distribution of land among farmers. It is also focused on the political and economic class character of the relations of production and distribution in farming and related enterprises, and how these connect to the wider class structure. Through genuine and comprehensive agrarian reform, the Philippines would be able to gain more from its agricultural potential and uplift the Filipinos in the agricultural sector, who have been, for the longest time, mired in poverty and discontent. Land ownership under Spain  They brought with them a system called pueblo agriculture where rural communities, often dispersed and scattered in nature, were organized into a pueblo and given land to cultivate.  Families were not allowed to own their land-the King of Spain owned the land, and Filipinos were assigned to these lands- to cultivate them, and they pay their colonial tributes to the Spanish authorities in the form of agricultural products.  Later on, through the Law of the Indies, the Spanish crown awarded tracts of land to (1) religious orders; (2) Spanish military as “repartamientos” or reward for their service; and (3) Spanish encomenderos, those mandated to manage the encomienda or the lands given to them, where Filipinos worked and paid their tributes to the encomendero.  From this encomienda system, the hacienda system developed in the beginning of the 19th century, as the Spanish government implemented policies that would fast track the entry of the colony into the capitalist world. The economy was tied to the world market, as the Philippines became an exporter of raw materials and importer of goods. Agricultural exports were demanded and the hacienda system was developed as a new form of ownership.  Land ownership under the Americans  Aware that the growing social unrest of the Filipinos were due to landlessness  They impose several laws to alleviate such  The Philippine Commission also enacted Act No. 496 or the Land Registration Act, which introduced the Torrens system to address the absence of earlier records of issued land titles and conduct accurate land surveys. In 1903, the homestead program was introduced, allowing a tenant to enter into an agricultural business by acquiring a farm of at least l 6 hectares. This program, however, was limited to areas in Northern Luzon and Mindanao, where colonial penetration has been difficult for Americans, a problem they inherited from the Spaniards. Landownership did not improve during the American period  Post-War interventions towards Agrarian Reform  Rehabilitationand rebuilding after the war was focused on providing solutions to the problems of the past. The administration of President Roxas passed Republic Act No. 34 to establish a 70-30 sharing arrangements between tenant and landlord.  Under the term of President Elpidio Quirino, the Land Settlement Development Corporation (LASEDECO) was established to accelerate ant expand the resettlement program for peasants. This agency later on became the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) under the administration of President Ramon Magsaysay.  Magsaysay saw the importance of pursuing genuine land reform program and convinced Congress, majority of which are landed elites, to pass legislation to improve the land reform situation. Republic Act No. 1199 or the Agricultural Tenancy Act was passed to govern the relationship between landholders and tenant farmers. protecting the tenurial rights of tenants and enforced tenancy practices. Through this law. the Court of Agricultural Relations was created in 1955 to improve tenancy security, fix land rentals tenanted farms and resolve land disputes filed by the landowners and peasant organizations. The Agricultural Tenancy Commission was also established to administer problems created by tenancy.  Agrarian Reform Efforts under Marcos  PresidentMarcos declared martial Jaw in 1972, enabling him essentially wipe out the landlord- dominated Congress. Through "technocrats." he was able to expand executive power to start a ''fundamental restructuring" of government, including its efforts in solving the structural problems of the countryside. Presidential Decree No. 27, or 1 Code of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines. became the core of agrarian reform during Marcos regime.  "Operation Land Transfer" on lands occupied by tenants of more than seven hectares on rice and corn lands commenced, and through legal compulsion and an improved delivery of support services to small farmers, agrarian reform seemed to be finally achievable. Under the rice self-sufficiency program "Masagana '99," farmers were able to borrow from banks and purchase three-hectare plots of lands and agricultural inputs. However, the landlord class still found ways to circumvent the law.  Post- 1986 Agrarian Reforms  The overthrow of Marcos and the 1987 Constitution resulted to a renewed interest and attention to agrarian reform, as President Corazon Aquino envisioned agrarian reform to be the centerpiece of her administration's social legislation.  On 22 July 1987, Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation 131 ant Executive Order 229. which outlined her land reform program. In 1988, the Congress passed Republic Act No. 6657. or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL).  CARP was limited because it accomplished very little during the administration of Aquino. It only accomplished 22.5% of land distribution six years owing to the fact that Congress. dominated by the landed elite, unwilling to fund the high compensation costs of the program. It was all mired in controversy, since Aquino seemingly bowed down to the pressure her relatives by allowing the stock redistribution option. Hacienda Luisita reorganized itself into a corporation and distributed stocks to farmers.  Under the term of President Ramos, CARP implementation was speeded in order to meet the ten-year time frame. despite limitations and constraint in funding, logistics. and participation of involved sectors. By 1996, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) distributed only 58.25% of the total area target to be covered by the program. To address the lacking funds( and the dwindling time for the implementation of CARP. Ramos signed Republic Act No. 8532 in 1998 to amend CARL and extend the program another ten years.  CARPER and the future of Agrarian Reforms in the Philippines The new deadline of CARP expired in 2008, leaving l.2 million farmer beneficiaries and 1.6 million hectares of agricultural land to be distributed to farmers.  In 2009, President Arroyo signed Republic Act No. 9700 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER), the amendatory law that extended the deadline to five more years. Section 30 of the law also mandates that any case and/or proceeding involving implementation of the provisions of CARP, as amended, which may remain pending on 30 June 2014 shall be allowed to proceed to its finality and executed even beyond such date.  From 2009 to 2014, CARPER has distributed a total of 1 million hectares of land to 900,000 farmer beneficiaries. After 27 years of land reform and two Aquino administrations, 500.000 hectares of lands remain undistributed. The DAR and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) are the government agencies mandated to fulfill CARP and CARPER, but even the combined effort and resources of the two agencies have proved incapable of fully achieving the goal of agrarian reform in the Philippines. The same problems have plagued its implementation: the powerful landed elite, and the ineffectual bureaucracy of the Philippine government. Until these two challenges are surmounted, genuine agrarian reform in the Philippines remains but a dream to Filipino farmers who have been fighting for their right to landownership for centuries.