Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

Dy
HOUSE BILL NO. 239

Introduced by
BAYAN MUNA Party-List Representatives CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE,
FERDINAND R. GAITE, and EUFEMIA C. CULLAMAT,
ACT TEACHERS Party-List Representative FRANCE L. CASTRO,
GABRIELA Women’s Party Representative ARLENE D. BROSAS,
and KABATAAN Party-List Representative SARAH JANE I. ELAGO

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill was first filed by the late Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran in 2007 when
the House of Representatives was assembled as the 14" Congress. Since then, its main
authorship had passed to Anakpawis Rep. Rafael V. Mariano who refiled it in the 15"
Congress, to Rep. Fernando Hicap who refiled it during the 16" Congress and then to Rep.
Ariel B. Casilao who refiled it during the 17" Congress.

When it was filed in the 15" Congress, the bill was adopted as among the flagship
bills of the Makabayan bloc such that all members of the bloc signed it as principal co-
authors. The bloc’s decision to raise the bill to flagship status was anchored on one
compelling reason: the Makabayan bloc believes that our country requires fundamental
socio-economic reforms for it to move forward towards attaining social justice and
enduring peace, towards eradicating poverty and towards laying the foundation for a well-
rounded economic development. Upon that profession de foi, the Makabayan bloc wishes
to assert that this Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill is the most fundamental of the fundamental
reforms our country needs.

Philippine society needs fundamental socio-economic reforms primarily because it
is built on a fundamentally-flawed social structure. Our wealth and resources, whether
created by nature or man, is monopolized and controlled by a few while the rest of the
population only receives trickles. This social inequality is most extreme in our agriculture
where land is locked in monopoly ownership and control in the hands of a few big landlords

in the 1960s, this was called “uneven distribution of wealth.” But the present setting is no longer hospitable
to such term because “uneven distribution of wealth” no longer captures the injustice brought about by
privatization, liberalization and deregulation, trickle down approach and other neoliberal policies that
widened even more the gap between the rich and the poor.


and agri-business corporations. Land monopoly creates poverty since it denies farmers of
access to a resource vital to their survival. It also generates various forms of exactions like
rent, usury and high prices of inputs which are poverty-intensifiers. As the cutting edge of
inequality, it generates conflicts as exemplified at present by an armed revolution in the
countryside which mainly draws its strength from the ranks of the peasantry.

Contrary to mainstream wisdom, this basic defect in our society has not been
resolved by the 14 agrarian reform programs our country had seen in the last 75 years.
Those programs include CARP and its extension offspring, CARPer. As things stand at
present, there is no longer any argument about the failure of those programs.

In fact, structural inequality in the country has been entrenched deeper and
aggravated by those agrarian reforms since all of these programs, without exception, were
implemented without any real intention to uproot landlordism which is the pillar of land
monopoly. They were not consistent with the call for “land to the landless” and were rather
modeled after the neo-liberal idea of “free market” where export production and the non-
inclusive growth it creates trumps social justice. They were therefore tailored to fit with the
thrust to open our natural wealth and resources (liberalization) to foreign investments and
their local partners of big landlords (privatization); and without any interference from
government and unfettered in the ways of profit-making (deregulation). These programs,
in fact, have driven more land grabbing and more _ peasants dispossessed of their lands
beginning in the 1990s when they were institutionalized into policies and programs.

Because of land monopoly and its various iniquitous forms of exactions, our
agriculture is weak in many respects. It is now the most underdeveloped sector of the
national economy where once it was the pillar. It is the setting of the most intense poverty
in the country, in which the majority of the people even survive outside the workings of the
dominant economic system. As of this writing, its contribution to the national production
has even gone zero in the last six quarters, culminating decades of stunted development
under globalization. Being oriented to export production, it lives and dies on a few export
crops such that a price sneeze of one export crop line would have the entire agriculture in
fever. Since capital released from agricultural lands has been sucked off and deployed to
other favored economic sectors (real estate, tourism, banking and finance, and
infrastructure projects), it has lost its capability to accumulate the funds to improve its
productivity. Starved of capital, it is now dependent on the token capital infusion from
periodic “agriculture modernization programs” which are nothing but packages of more
liberalization, privatization and deregulation. Most lamentable of all, the
underdevelopment of our agriculture has raised the threat to our food security to critical
level.

Our weak agriculture is the primary reason the country failed to industrialize and
cannot industrialize. The majority of our people lives off agriculture but the same
agriculture, with its land monopoly and poverty-intensifying exactions, occludes the
formation of a domestic market that could support manufacturing and the flowering of


medium and heavy industries. Moreover, because it is export-dependent, it has weak links
to local industries that could have developed agriculture in reciprocity.

In response to the vacuum left by the expiration of CARPer in 2014, the present
Duterte administration had recently issued Executive Order No. 75 which will purportedly
distribute government-owned lands to farmers, But this EO only repeats the Executive
Order No. 407 and 448 that Pres. Aquino issued in 1990 to flesh out the inclusion of
government-owned lands under RA 6657 aka CARP. The Department of Agrarian Reform
calls it as CARP Phase 2, a nomenclature which is misleading given that CARP expired in
2008 and was extended to end in 2014. The name notwithstanding, it is not a new agrarian
reform program and it is doubtful if there are any government-owned lands left that are
numerically substantial enough for land distribution since almost all such lands have been
long covered by investment-driven agency or regional development plans that put them out
of the range of agrarian reform.

It is for these reasons that Makabayan and its kindred mass organizations support
the resumption of the peace talks which will tackle the substantive agenda of
Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reforms, thereby addressing the root
causes of poverty of the great majority of our people and put an end to the internecine strife
that has embroiled the country since the 1960s. In the same vein, Makabayan takes the
cudgel to refile this bill, despite the difficult climb it experienced in past Congresses, to
impress upon the people and the members of 18"" Congress the vital significance of genuine
agrarian reform in achieving fundamental reforms in our society and lay the pathway for
the sustainable development of our agriculture and national economy.

This Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill will foremost achieve social justice for our
landless farmers through free land distribution. But more than that, it will reengineer and
reorient our agriculture to put it on fundamentally sound footing and make it more
responsive to the needs of our people and the country’s requirements for industrialization.

In behalf of our farmers who have been impoverished by false agrarian reforms and
brutalized by all-out war since the Marcos regime, the authors of this bill seek its urgent
passage and respectfully ask of the Committee on Agrarian Reform to place it at the top of
its agenda for the immediate conduct of hearings to roll out its deliberation.


Adopted,

)
Solita . ZARATE . INAND R. GAITE
BAYAN M list BAYAN MUNA Pantylist

REP. ee REP. ICE. CASTRO

BAYAN MUNA Partylist ACT Party-List

—
. D. BROSAS REP. JANE I. ELAGO
;ABRII ‘Women’s Party KABATAAN Party-List


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 239

Introduced by
BAYAN MUNA Party-List Representatives CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE,
FERDINAND R. GAITE, and EUFEMIA C. CULLAMAT,
ACT TEACHERS Party-| Representative FRANCE L. CASTRO,
GABRIELA Women’s Party Representative ARLENE D. BROSAS,
and KABATAAN Party-List Representative SARAH JANE I. ELAGO

AN ACT
INSTITUTING GENUINE AGRARIAN REFORM IN THE COUNTRY
AND CREATING THE MECHANISM FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled:
L. Title

SECTION 1. Short Title. This Act shall be known and cited as the “Genuine Agrarian
Reform Act of 2019.”

Il. Declaration of Principles, Policies, and Objectives

SECTION 2. State Policies and Principles — The State firmly recognizes that our
agriculture has remained backward and stagnant because land, its most vital resource for
development, has for centuries been monopolized by a few landowning class and subjected
to foreign control and domination; that this land monopoly and foreign control has spawned
feudal and semi-feudal forms of exploitation that keep our farmers, including agricultural
workers, fisherfolk, and indigenous peoples, in social and economic bondage, fetter their
productive capabilities and cause the widespread landlessness, high unemployment and
extreme poverty in our countryside. The State realizes that past agrarian reform programs,
including Republic Act No. 6657, have failed to liberate our farmers from feudal bondage
and poverty because these programs lacked the political will to break up land monopoly,
including the provision for sufficient and effective state subsidy to farmers to ensure their
agricultural productivity.



The State hereby declares the necessity of breaking up the monopoly of a few landowners
and foreign control of our lands and the subsequent free distribution of lands to landless
tillers that a genuine agrarian reform can be implemented in the country.

The State recognizes that the pursuit of such policy requires the highest degree of political
that in order to muster such political will, the State must harness the involvement of
all farmers, other stakeholders of genuine agrarian reform and the entire Filipino people in
the tremendous task of rectifying a historical wrong and fundamentally transforming our
society; and that it must act firmly and swiftly. With such political will, the State, applying
the principles of social justice in breaking up land monopoly and to implement free
distribution of lands to all landless toilers of the soil and other deserving sections of the
population, including rural women, who are willing to till the land.

In implementing genuine land distribution, the State adheres to the empowerment of rural
women and respects and recognizes the rights to ancestral domain and self-determination
of indigenous peoples.

The State believes that to better serve the ends of social justice and achieve the optimal but
equitable utilization of land, the land distribution must be based on the quality and
availability of land in relation to the economic needs and productive capabilities of its
intended beneficiaries.

The State recognizes that land distribution alone cannot liberate our farmers from poverty
and misery; that centuries of land monopoly has so exploited, oppressed, and bludgeoned
them to the ground that they need societal and governmental help for them to be able to
stand back on their own feet. Genuine land distribution must thus be complemented with
an integrated and holistic program of support services that will help our farmers regain
confidence in themselves, nurture them back to productive strength, and carry them through
the spirit of cooperativism toward improving their productivity, increasing their income
and, finally, transforming them into vibrant and efficient producers.

The State adheres to the principle that genuine land distribution, alongside an integrated
and holistic program of support services for promoting cooperatives and improving
productivity, will unleash our farmers from the fetters of land monopoly, land grabbing and
foreign control. A thoroughgoing land distribution that liberates our farmers from feudal
bondage and economically empowers them will put the development of Philippine
agriculture on sustainable and firm grounds.

Finally, the State realizes that an agriculture sector developing on the basis of vibrant and
efficient producers lays the foundation for the development of national industrialization. It
broadens the domestic market that will pave the way for nurturing the mutual development
of both agriculture and industries. The State believes that genuine land distribution is the
starting point for building a fundamentally sound economy.

SECTION 3. Objectives -This Act aims to achieve the following objectives:
1. break up land monopoly and implement free, fair, just and equitable distribution of the

lands covered by this Act within a five-year period and eliminate all forms of oppression
and exploitation in the countryside and thereby usher the advent of genuine social justice;


2. transform the farmer-beneficiaries into efficient producers through the institution of an
integrated, comprehensive, and holistic program of support services and other state
subsidies that will nurture them toward improving their productive capabilities;

3. increase the income of farmer-beneficiaries and raise their living standard through the
promotion of cooperatives and other forms of mutual-aid as the main vehicle for improving
their productivity;

4. install the social mechanism and effective measures that will secure the lands of farmer-
beneficiaries from loss and prevent the restoration of land monopoly; and

5. launch the thoroughgoing development of our agricultural sector and lay the foundation
for national industrialization.

SECTION 4. Definition of Terms — For the purpose of this Act, the following terms shall
be understood as follows:

Agribusiness plantations refer to large tracts of lands, usually more than fifty (50) hectares,
owned by big landowners, or by the state, or consolidated out of small landholdings mainly
used and operated for commercial purposes by local and transnational corporations for the
production of export crops; in this Act, depending on the context, itis used interchangeably
with agribusiness operations or agribusiness enterprise;

Agribusiness transnational corporations refer to any transnational corporation as defined
herein whose business and operation in the Philippines involves maintaining large tracts of
lands for the production of agricultural export crops, tree crops or livestock;

Agricultural estates refer to haciendas or the large tracts of lands normally owned by a
single family and used for the large-scale production of agricultural export crops, other
commercial crops or staple crops;

Agricultural lands refer to lands, regardless of classification, that are devoted to
agricultural production and such other uses connected with agriculture such as cattle and
livestock farms, aquaculture, including foreshore, pasture farms, and lands that are
agricultural in use or with the potential for agricultural use:

Alternative collateral systems ~ non-land collateral systems refer to collateral systems for
obtaining credit or loan that do not use land as collateral; in such systems, the collateral
used are crops, livestock or social guarantees or the guarantee of farmers’ organizations or
cooperatives or local government officials;

Collective ownership is a type of ownership in which the property is wholly owned by a
group, sector, or class, with the members of the group, sector, or class sharing only the
fruits and income of the property;

Confiscation refers to the State’s act of extraordinary exercise of its powers of eminent
domain involving the taking away, without compensation, of sullied private agricultural
lands and non-land assets necessary and vital to the operation of an agricultural activity;


Compulsory Acquisition Order refers to the Order that shall be issued by the Department
of Agrarian Reform to effect the confiscation of sullied landholdings ot of lands subject to
agrarian reform coverage whose landowners refuse or fail to voluntarily give up possession
and ownership after notice thereof;

The Department refers to the Department of Agrarian Reform;

DA refers to the Department of Agriculture;

DENR refers to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources;
DTI refers to the Department of Trade and Industry;

Expropriation refers to the State act of exercising its powers of eminent domain involving
the taking of private agricultural land and non-land assets necessary and vital to the
operation of an agricultural activity for public use with just compensation; in this Act, the
taking of the agricultural land and non-land assets is in pursuance of state and public policy;

Farmers refer to those who earn their income by working on the land. As used in this Act,
it includes agricultural workers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, including rural women, and
workers in cattle and livestock farms, aquaculture, and pasture lands.

Filipinization refers to the act of taking of ownership, control or disposition by the State
of agricultural lands owned, controlled and operated by foreign corporations, including
non-land assets integral to agricultural production;

Higher-income farmers refer to farmers who own lands and adequate farm tools, working
animals or machineries that give them an income which is more than enough to sustain the
needs of their families;

Joint corporate undertaking refers to a business undertaking between agricultural
workers who own the land and the Filipino owner whose non-land assets do not fall under
the category of sullied landholdings, in which the agricultural workers control and manage
the business operation;

Landless farmers refer to farmers who do not own any land. For purposes of this Act, the
term includes farmers who own lands which are inadequate to their available labor force or
who own lands of low quality as to cause the inadequacy of their income;

Land Reform Support Services Fund refers to the fund that shall be used to ensure the
delivery of support services to the farmer-beneficiaries;

Land Reform Zones refer to the basic unit of operation for the land distribution program
under this Act;

Land use conversion refers to the process of converting agricultural lands into commercial,
industrial, or residential uses. For purposes of this Act, it covers any act of the landowner
or the real estate developer or their agent or representative, in the process of conversion,
which deprives the farmers of the agricultural use of the land;


Middle-income farmers refer to farmers who own lands that give them an income enough
to sustain the needs of their families based on prevailing economic and social indicators,
and the poverty incidence level in the municipality concerned;

Non-land assets refer to immovable, apart from land, and movable properties that are used
as facilities, equipment, or accessories and other structures, instruments and improvements
vital and necessary to agricultural production; in the case of cattle and livestock farms,
aquaculture and pasture, the non-land assets include the breeding ponds and stables, fish
cages, machines and equipment and other improvements, structures and instruments vital
and necessary to their operation, and the cattle, livestock, prawns and fishes, and all other
animals raised and grown therein;

PCCAR refers to People’s Coordinating Council for Agrarian Reform;

Producers’ cooperatives refer to a form of cooperative based on the labor and production
contribution of the members;

ROD - refers to the Register of Deeds;

Sullied landholdings - refer to landholdings acquired through fraud, deception,
intimidation, or the use of force or violence, and landholdings whose landowners have
maintained private armed groups which are known to farmers as having been involved in
extra-judicial execution and abduction of farmers or have used such private armies against
farmers and farmers” organizations in connection with agrarian disputes;

Title of Full Emancipation - refers to the ownership title that will be conferred on the land
awarded or distributed to farmer-beneficiaries under this Act; and

Transnational corporations (TNCs) refer to any corporation, registered and doing business
in the Philippines for and in behalf of its mother corporation in another country, the
capitalization of which is funded by its parent corporation.

IIL. Scope

SECTION 5. Scope and coverage -This Act shall cover all agricultural lands in the
country. It shall include:

a) all private agricultural lands, regardless of crops planted and tenancy relations;

b) all lands operated as agribusiness plantations by transnational corporations (TNCs),
commercial farms, agricultural estates including those which are presently under various
schemes considered as alternative to land transfer, and aquaculture, pasture, cattle and
livestock farms which are not actually, directly and exclusively used for livestock, poultry
and swine as of the effectivity of this Act,

) all agricultural lands already distributed by Presidential Decree No. 27 and Republic Act
6657, as amended by RA 9700, but have passed into the ownership, possession or control
of persons or corporations which are not qualified beneficiaries as mentioned in this Act,


including lands distributed but placed under various schemes and modes of accessing the
land to foreign and local corporations;

d) all lands that have been declared by various Presidential Decrees, Presidential
Proclamations, other laws and issuances as part of reserved or devoted areas for tourism
development, military reservations, human settlements projects, special economic
development authorities, export processing zones, regional industrial centers, or special
economic zones but have remained unutilized and undeveloped or agricultural in use or
presently occupied and tilled by farmers on the date of the effectivity of this Act.

In the case of military reservations, the determination of developed portion and the
segregation of undeveloped lands shall be based on the actual use for military installations
or facilities such as camps, barracks, ammunition depots, and perimeter outposts.

In the case of lands affected by public sector development projects located in the
reservations of special economic development authorities, regional industrial centers,
special economic zones, where such development projects have not started, such lands shall
be included in land distribution;

) all lands that have been reclassified as commercial, industrial or residential lands by
local government units and other government line departments and agencies but have
remained undeveloped according to their legislated or executive classifications, agricultural
in use, or presently occupied and tilled by farmers upon the effectivity of this Act;

f) all agricultural lands with approved land use conversion authority but have remained
undeveloped and all agricultural lands with pending land use conversion applications on
the date of the effectivity of this Act;

In the case of agricultural lands with approved land use conversion authority, this Act
hereby declares the revocation of their conversion authority. If the development of the land
has not started, the entire landholding shall be covered by this Act; otherwise, only the
undeveloped portion shall be covered, In the case of lands with pending land use conversion
applications, this Act hereby declares such applications as terminated and denied.

g) all lands that are part of the reservations of state colleges and universities but
predominantly used for commercial agricultural production, or presently occupied and
tilled by farmers, upon the effectivity of this Act; and lands of private schools which are
not actually used for educational purposes and have remained undeveloped or agricultural
in use or presently occupied and tilled by farmers;

h) all agricultural lands which had been tilled by farmers and the subject of their land
distribution claims but were taken away from them by the government or the landowner for
use or lease to foreign institutions;

i) all lands under agricultural cultivation or use by farmers within timber and mineral lands
including those with existing concessions and exploration agreements shall be reclassified
as agricultural lands upon the effectivity of this Act and subject to distribution

j) all government-owned lands that are agricultural in use or presently occupied and tilled
by farmers or have remained undeveloped, including those portions in excess of their use


as penal colonies; and all public agricultural lands and alienable and disposable lands of
the public domain that have remained undistributed, including settlement areas and
foreshore lands presently occupied by farmers, settlers, and fishers; and

k) all private and public lands that have remained idle and abandoned and suitable for
agricultural use.

IV. Time Frame and Priorities

SECTION 6. Time frame — The distribution of lands covered by this Act shall be
completed within a period of five (5) years from the effectivity of this Act. The Department
of Agrarian Reform (herein referred to as the Department) is hereby mandated to complete
the land distribution of this Act within the specified time frame.

SECTION 7. Prioritization within simultaneous distribution ~ The Department shall
exert all efforts to simultaneously distribute the lands covered by this Act. It shall create
the appropriate implementing arms and mechanism in order to carry out the simultaneous
distribution of the different categories and classifications of lands enumerated in Section 5
of this Act: Provided, That in carrying out the simultaneous distribution of lands, it shall
give priority to lands mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (h) of Section 5 of this Act.

V. Free Land Distribution

SECTION 8. Free land distribution — The lands covered by this Act shall be distributed
at no cost to farmer beneficiaries. The central goal of this Act is free land distribution based
on social justice.

SECTION 9. Writing off of amortization on lands distributed under Presidential Decree
No. 27 and Republic Act No. 6657, as amended by Republic Act No. 9700 — The
amortization schedule or any balance thereof, including the interests, of lands already
distributed under Presidential Decree No. 27 and Republic Act No. 6657, as amended by
Republic Act No.9700, are hereby declared as written off. The farmer-beneficiaries of such
lands shall be deemed their full owners upon the effectivity of this Act.

SECTION 10. Restoration to farmer-beneficiaries of lands under cancelled Certificates
of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAS), Certificate of Land Transfers (CLTs) and
Emancipation Patents (EPs) or with pending cancellation proceedings due to non-
payment ~The lands covered by Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs),
Certificate of Land Transfers (CLTs), and Emancipation Patents (EPs) already cancelled
due to the failure of farmer-beneficiaries to amortize, where such lands have not yet been
awarded to other qualified farmer-beneficiaries, are hereby restored to the ownership and
possession of original farmer-beneficiaries who shall be deemed full owners of the land
upon the effectivity of this Act. If such lands were already awarded to other qualified
farmer-beneficiaries, the award shall be recognized and the amortization schedule for the
land or the balance thereof are hereby likewise declared as written off such that the rights
of full ownership over such lands shall devolve upon the subsequent qualified farmer-
beneficiaries in accordance with Section 9 of this Act.

All pending cancellation proceedings of CLOAS, CLTs and EPs due to the failure of
farmers to amortize their lands are hereby declared terminated and resolved in favor of


farmer-beneficiaries. The lands covered by such CLOAs, CLTs and EPs shall be
immediately restored to the ownership and possession of farmer-beneficiaries who shall be
deemed full owners of the land in accordance with Section 9 of this Act.

Section 11. Issuance of Title of Full Emancipation — A\\ farmer-beneficiaries under this
Act shall be issued, at no cost, a Title of Full Emancipation.

VI. Modes of Acquisition

SECTION 12. State acquisition of lands covered for distribution ~The State, through the
Department, shall acquire and distribute all public and private agricultural lands exceeding
five (5) hectares and for this purpose shall notify the landowner within fifteen days upon
the effectivity of this Act. A maximum of five (5) hectares shall remain to the landowner
and the excess shall be subject to expropriation: Provided, That the land does not fall under
Section 16 of this Act: Provided, further, That the landowner shall personally cultivate the
retained lands.

With regard to public and government-owned lands that fall under the scope of land
distribution mentioned in Section 5 of this Act, the concerned departments, agencies, other
government instrumentalities and institutions, including government financial institutions
and government-owned or controlled corporations, and local government units, which
exercise administration or control over such lands shall, within fifteen (15) days after the
effectivity of this Act, turn these lands over to the Department for land distribution.

For purposes of land distribution, the Department shall assume jurisdiction over all
alienable and disposable lands of the public domain under the jurisdiction of the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Within fifteen (15) days after
the effectivity of this Act, the DENR shall turn over the lands to the Department.

The public and government-owned lands turned over under this Section shall be integrated
into the Land Reform Zones, as mentioned in Section 24, where these lands are located.

SECTION 13. Filipinization of lands and agribusiness enterprises owned, controlled
and operated by Transnational corporations (TNCs) — This Act hereby declares the
Filipinization of agribusiness enterprises, including the land and non-land assets, of all
agribusiness TNCs operating within the territory and jurisdiction of this country. The
Filipinization of their lands, non-land assets, and agribusiness enterprises shall take effect
immediately upon the effectivity of this Act.

The Filipinization and acquisition of such agribusiness enterprises shall be made in the
following manner:

a) The contract between the TNCs with private persons, natural or juridical, and any
government office or entity shall be cancelled and terminated and notice to that effect shall
be given the contracting parties;

b) The lands operated by TNCs, where these lands have remained in private ownership,
including all non-land assets therein shall be placed under State’s ownership, subject to the
rule of expropriation or confiscation as defined in this Act. The control or management of
their agribusiness enterprise shall also be undertaken by the State or_turned over to the


agricultural workers employed, regardless of employment status, in the operation of the
TNCs; or

b) Where these lands have remained public or government-owned lands and undistributed,
the contracts causing the TNCs” continued possession, control and operation of the land are
hereby cancelled and terminated and notice to that effect shall be given the contracting
parties. The government agency, instrumentality and institution, including government
financial institutions and government-owned or controlled corporations, administering the
land shall turn over the land to the Department in accordance with Section 12 hereof.
Likewise, the control and management of the agribusiness enterprise of the TNCs shall be
turned over to State or the agricultural workers’ organizations, unions, associations or
cooperatives.

Where the lands operated by TNCs were already awarded to agricultural workers’
organizations, unions, associations or cooperatives under Section 8 of Republic Act No.
6657, as amended by Republic Act No.9700, the contracts causing the TNCs’ continued
possession, control, and operation of the land shall be similarly cancelled and terminated
and the workers’ organizations, unions, associations or cooperatives shall be deemed
owners of the land.

SECTION 14. Expropriation of lands of commercial farms, agricultural estates, cattle
and livestock farms, aquaculture and pasture owned and operated by Filipino
landowners or corporations - Lands of commercial farms and agricultural estates owned
or operated by Filipino landowners or corporations shall also be expropriated.

However, if such lands and their non-land assets are found to fall under the category of
sullied landholdings, as defined in this Act, the same shall be confiscated in accordance
with Section 16 hereof.

In the case of lands operated as cattle and livestock farms, aquaculture, and pasture, the
expropriation of such lands shall include their non-land assets, and other improvements,
structures and instruments vital and necessary to their operation. If such lands and their
non-land assets are found to fall under the category of sullied landholdings, the same shall
be confiscated in accordance with Section 16 of this Act.

SECTION 15. Non-land assets in commercial farms and agricultural estates and the
Right of First Refusal of agricultural workers - The non-land assets of commercial farms
and agricultural estates shall remain in the ownership of Filipino landowners or
corporations which may use the property to enter into joint corporate undertaking with the
agricultural workers who are beneficiaries of land distribution of commercial farms and
agricultural estates. If the Filipino landowners or corporations opt to sell their non-land
assets, they must first offer to sell the property to the agricultural workers to whom the land
would be awarded: Provided, That if the agricultural workers, by any reason, cannot
purchase the non-land assets as first offered, the State, through the DA and Department,
shall purchase the non-land assets and turn them over to the agricultural workers who shall
receive the land in accordance with Section 41.

SECTION 16. Confiscation of sullied landholdings - Landholdings which are proven to
have been acquired by their landowners through fraud, deception, intimidation, or the use
of force or violence, and landholdings whose landowners have maintained private armed


groups which are known to farmers as having been involved in extra-judicial execution and
abduction of farmers or have used such private armies against farmers and farmers’
organizations in connection with agrarian disputes shall be confiscated in accordance with
the provisions of Sections 21 and 22 of this Act. The confiscation shall include the non-
land assets on the land, except the residential house of the landowner: Provided, That if the
landowner has other residential house in some other place, the residential house attached
to the land shall be included in the confiscation. The confiscated non-land assets shall be
distributed to the qualified farmer-beneficiaries in accordance with Section 36 of this Act.

SECTION 17. Small landowners option to sell — In all other lands not exceeding fifteen
(15) hectares, including the lands of retirees, professionals, and low and middle-income
employees, the landowners shall be given the option to sell their lands in excess of five
hectares to the State within one (1) year after the effectivity of this Act: Provided, That the
remaining five (5) hectares shall be personally cultivated by the landowner.

If they use the option to sell within the prescribed period, the just compensation for their
lands shall be based on the price agreed upon in the negotiations procedure provided for in
subsection (b) of Section 44 of this Act. If they fail to exercise their option to sell after one
(1) year, their lands shall be paid just compensation in accordance with subsection (c) of
Section 44 of this Act.

SECTION 18. No expropriation of landholdings below five (5) hectares and lands owned
by higher-income and middle-income farmers — Lands that are below five (5) hectares and
the lands of middle-income and higher-income farmers shall not be expropriated. However,
in the case of lands below five (5) hectares whose owners do not personally till the land,
the landowners shall be encouraged to sell the land.

VII. Procedure for Filipinization and Confiscation

SECTION 19. Effecting the Filipinization of the agribusiness operations of
Transnational corporations (TNCs) ~ Within five (5) days after the effectivity of this Act,
the Department shall issue a notice of cancellation of contract to the agribusiness TNCs
and the private landowners of the lands operated by TNCs. They shall also be notified that
the Government of the Republic of the Philippines has cancelled the business permit of the
TNC in so far as operation of the agribusiness if concerned and has placed the entire
operation of their agribusiness enterprise, including the land and non-land assets, under
State control. In the case of public or government-owned lands operated by agribusiness
TNCs, the TNCs shall be notified that the contract allowing their continued possession,
control, and operation of the land has been rescinded and terminated.

In the said notice, the TNC shall be ordered to effect the turn-over of the land and non-land
assets, control, supervision, and management of its agribusiness enterprise to the State or
the agricultural workers’ organization, unions, associations or cooperatives.

After the State or the agricultural workers have assumed control of the land, non-land assets
and the entire agribusiness enterprise, the TNC shall immediately wrap up their operations
within fifteen (15) days.

In the case when the control and management of the land and non-land assets of the
agribusiness TNCs have been transferred to the State, the Department shall assist the


agricultural workers in the operation of the agribusiness enterprise until such time that they
can effectively manage its operation but the income and profit of the land and the business
shall redound to the benefit of the agricultural workers.

SECTION 20. Validation of the list of sullied landholdings — In each Land Reform Zone,
the People’s Coordinating Council for Agrarian Reform (PCCAR) shall conduct
consultations with organizations of farmers, agricultural workers, fisherfolk and indigenous
peoples to draw the list of landowners with sullied landholdings, as defined in this Act, and
submit the list to the Department. The list shall be accompanied by the documentation of
the profile of the landowners, the character of their land ownership, the history of their
acquisition and their employment practices and treatment of their tenants, agricultural
workers, employees and other farmers and workers tilling or working on their land and the
specific cases of the involvement of the landowners’ private armed groups in extra-judicial
executions and abductions of farmers, including the cases of their use of such private armed
groups against the farmers and farmers’ organizations in connection with agrarian disputes.
The documentation shall be under oath and duly notarized, to be signed by the officers of
the organization or the farmer who have/has direct knowledge of the character of the
landowner, history of acquisition of the land and his employment practices.

The PCCAR shall also gather such other documents and evidences that are necessary to
substantiate the factual averments of the documentation.

SECTION 21. Summary hearing for sullied landholdings - Within three (3) days after
receiving the documentation mentioned in paragraph 2 of Section 21 of this Act, the
Department, through the Secretary, shall cause the cancellation of title of the landowner
and conduct a summary hearing to determine whether the landowner is entitled to just
‘compensation.

The landowner shall have the right to contest the findings that the land is sullied but such
action shall be limited only to the determination of whether or not he or she is entitled to
just compensation. Despite the filing of the action by the landowner contesting the said
findings, the distribution of the land and transfer of its ownership to the qualified farmer-
beneficiaries shall immediately ensue.

SECTION 22. Issuance of Compulsory Acquisition Order and liability of the landowner
— After fifteen (15) days from notice of acquisition, if the landowner fails to vacate the land,
the Department shall issue a Compulsory Acquisition Order against the landowner and,
within three (3) days, send the order to the Department Sheriff for execution. The
Compulsory Acquisition Order shall particularly and clearly delineate the boundaries of the
lands to be covered and distributed and clearly name and describe the non-land assets to be
seized for lands that fall under the category of sullied landholdings.

The Department Sheriff shall execute the Compulsory Acquisition Order within three (3)
days from receipt of the Order from the Secretary. In executing the Compulsory Acquisition
Order, the Department Sheriff shall form volunteers from farmers’ organizations and
agrarian reform advocates.

The landowner or any person acting in his behalf who refuses to vacate the land and its
premises or who resists the enforcement of the demand or order to vacate after fifteen days
(15) from the effectivity of this Act shall be liable for contempt and a separate prosecution


under Section 70 of this Act without prejudice to such other liabilities he/she may incur
under the Revised Penal Code.

VIII. Land Reform Zones

SECTION 23. Pooling and constitution of covered lands into Land Reform Zones - All
lands covered by this Act shall be pooled and constituted into Land Reform Zones which
shall correspond to a size not bigger than a province but not smaller than a congressional
district. The Land Reform Zones shall serve as the basic unit of operation for the land
distribution under this Act.

The Land Reform Zones shall have an operation center that coordinates all activities related
to land distribution and serves as clearing house for the exchange of data and information
regarding land availability, number of beneficiaries, status of land distribution in relation
to the number of beneficiaries, problems encountered, and other information relevant and
necessary to hastening or resolving difficulties in land distribution.

SECTION 24. Conduct of survey of beneficiaries - In each Land Reform Zone, the
Department, through its field offices, shall conduct a survey of the beneficiaries which must
be completed within a period of thirty (30) days after the effectivity of this Act. For this
purpose, the Department shall enlist, through the PCCAR, the participation and help of
farmers’ organizations. The survey shall identify and categorize the population of
beneficiaries according to their landholdings, tenurial status as farmers and employment
status as agricultural workers, the size of their family, their income and monthly
expenditures, and the available labor force of their family.

SECTION 25. Land distribution plan — In each Land Reform Zone, the Department, after
the conduct of the survey, shall convene the PCCAR in order to craft a land distribution
plan to be drawn from the participation and inputs of farmers’ organizations, including rural
women, agrarian reform advocates, advocates of rural development, food security and
environment protection and other stakeholders of agrarian reform. The land distribution
plan shall be based on the criteria for equitable distribution of land and optimized land
utilization for achieving increased income of the beneficiaries as mentioned in Section 28
of this Act, further taking into consideration the factors of food security, ecological
soundness and sustainable development.

SECTION 26. Creation of national data base of all information collected from the survey
-The Department shall establish a national data base of all the data and information on the
land covered by land distribution of this Act and the data and information gathered from
the survey. The national data base shall be networked with the regional, provincial, and
municipal offices of the Department and centers of operation of Land Reform Zones. The
Department shall provide easy access of information for public consumption, to farmers”
organizations and agrarian reform advocates and ensure that it is periodically updated.

IX. Determining the Size of Land for Distribution to Farmer-Beneficiaries

SECTION 27. Factors for determining the size of land for distribution to beneficiaries -
The Department, in close coordination with farmers’ organizations, shall distribute the
lands to the beneficiaries in accordance with the land distribution plan crafted by PCCAR
for each Land Reform Zone. As to each farmer-beneficiary, the distribution shall be based


on the quality of the land, the available labor force of the family of the farmer-beneficiary,
and the crops planted or recommended by the land distribution plan for improved
production and family income of the farmer-beneficiaries: Provided, That the size of land
to be awarded to the farmer-beneficiaries shall not exceed what they can actually personally
till, but not to exceed five (5) hectares.

SECTION 28. Restructuring the cropping system in lands operated by TNCs ~ Where,
upon consultation with farmers’ organizations and environmental advocates, the
Department, and the DA in consideration of food security, ecological soundness and
sustainable agricultural development, the agricultural workers in lands operated by
agribusiness TNCs may decide to reduce the hectarage devoted to monoculture export
production for the cultivation of staple food crops and such other crops found to be suitable
with the natural and human endowments of the area.

SECTION 29. Provision for homelots and sources of additional or alternative livelihoods
~The land distribution shall include provision for the homelot of farmer-beneficiaries. In
the case of commercial farms, agricultural estates, and lands operated by TNCs, and the
lands operated as cattle and livestock farms, aquaculture and pasture, a portion of such
lands shall be allotted at no cost for the housing needs of their agricultural workers and for
other sources of livelihood. The housing

facilities of TNCs shall be given to the most needy among the agricultural workers
employed in the operation of nationalized agribusiness enterprise.

SECTION 30. Where the lands of a municipality are inadequate to satisfy the land
distribution requirements in relation to the number of farmer-beneficiaries, the names of
farmer-beneficiaries who do not receive any land or who receive inadequate land shall be
immediately forwarded to the center of operation of the Land Reform Zone for inclusion
in the land distribution in other municipalities where there are available lands for
distribution. Such farmer-beneficiaries shall be considered as having preferential right to
land distribution under paragraph (c) of Section 33.

X. Beneficiaries

SECTION 31. Beneficiaries of land distribution - The beneficiaries of the land
distribution program under this Act shall be:

a.) all landless farmers, as defined in this Act, who have not received any land from all
previous agrarian reform programs, tenants and leaseholders in tenanted private agricultural
lands;

b,) farmers, who became beneficiaries of Presidential Decree No. 27 and Republic Act
No.6657, as amended by Republic Act No. 9700, whose lands are not enough to sustain the
economic needs of their families in relation to their available labor force;

¢.) agricultural workers informally employed in the farm units of small landowners; the
agricultural workers of commercial farms and agricultural estates, regardless of
employment status; and the workers of cattle and livestock farms, aquaculture and pasture,
regardless of employment status: Provided, That in the case of tenanted agricultural estates,
the land shall be distributed to the tenants of the agricultural estate.


d,) fishers occupying foreshore lands;

¢.) settlers and tillers in alienable and disposable lands of the public domain and settlement
areas; and

f.) in all other lands, the present farmer-occupants and other landless farmers in nearby
barrios or municipalities.

Farmers who became beneficiaries of land distribution under Presidential Decree No. 27
and Republic Act No. 6657, as amended by Republic Act No. 9700, but who lost their land
for any reason shall not be disqualified as beneficiaries under this Act.

SECTION 32. Preferential treatment of beneficiaries - In distributing the land under this
Act, the land distribution plan shall observe the following preferential treatment of
beneficiaries:

a. With regard to lands owned by private landowners, the preferential beneficiaries shall be
their tenants, leaseholders, or the farmers presently occupying and tilling the land;

b. With regard to lands operated as commercial farms, agricultural estates, livestock and
cattle farms, aquaculture, pasture, the beneficiaries shall be the agricultural workers and
workers employed regularly, contractually or seasonally in the commercial farm,
agricultural estate, livestock and cattle farms, aquaculture, or pasture and the tenants in the
case of tenanted agricultural estates;

c. With regard to all other lands, the beneficiaries shall be the farmers, agricultural workers,
and fisherfolk, presently occupying and tilling the land and other landless farmers in nearby
barrios or municipalities in a given Land Reform Zone; the same rule shall apply to
alienable and disposable lands of the public domain and settlement areas, pasture lands
without pasture lease agreements, and foreshore lands.

SECTION 33. Dispute resolution among beneficiaries — Any dispute arising from the
application of preferential treatment of farmer beneficiaries shall be resolved by the
existing farmers’ organizations in the barrio or municipality where the land is located. The
farmers’ organization shall endeavor to amicably resolve the dispute as soon as possible.

SECTION 34. Provision for internally-displaced farmers — Tenants, leaseholders and
other farmers who return to the land they had left because they were harassed into flight by
the landowner or evicted by court order or ousted through the use of threats, intimidation,
force and violence by the landowner, or because of militarization, shall not lose their rights
to the land if the land is not yet occupied by another farmer. If the land is already occupied
and tilled by another farmer-beneficiary, the internally-displaced farmers shall be given
land from the available lands in the barrio or municipality or Land Reform Zone.

SECTION 35. Cooperative distribution of non-land assets in sullied landholdings ~ The
confiscated non-land assets in sullied landholdings shall be distributed to the farmer-
beneficiaries in the concept of cooperative ownership.


SECTION 36. Landowners as part of the beneficiaries -Landowners who are entitled to
five (5) hectares and willing to till the land personally shall form part of the beneficiaries
of land distribution.

SECTION 37. Other beneficiaries - Subject to the factors mentioned in Section 28 of this
Act, middle-income and higher-income farmers shall also be considered part of the
beneficiaries of land distribution in order to raise their income: Provided, That they shall
till the land personally.

Overseas Filipino workers and all other persons of good standing who have left their home
barangays and who wish to return to their barangays of origin in order to engage in farming
may upon return be given due share of the land being distributed, subject to the availability
of land and to the consent of farmers’ organizations existing in the said barangays:
Provided, That they shall personally till the land themselves.

SECTION 38. Periodic monitoring of landowners who are beneficiaries - The
Department shall periodically monitor the compliance of landowners who are included as
beneficiaries of land distribution. If they are found to have failed to personally till the land,
the land shall be confiscated and turned over to the farmers’ organization or cooperative
existing in the barrio or municipality where the land is situated.

SECTION 39. Start of ownership rights of beneficiaries — For purposes of reckoning the
start of enjoyment of rights, protection, and privileges, the ownership rights of farmer-
beneficiaries over the land awarded them shall commence at the moment of their
identification and validation by the Department as beneficiary of land distribution. But for
purposes of reckoning the start of obligations, the ownership rights of farmer-beneficiaries
shall be deemed to commence on the date of actual installation or occupation or, in the case
of farmers who have occupied the land before the effectivity of this Act, on the date of their
identification as beneficiary.

XL. Provisions for the Beneficiaries of Commercial Farms, Agricultural Estates,
Livestock and Cattle Farms, Aquaculture and Pasture

SECTION 40. Collective ownership of beneficiaries in commercial farms, agricultural
estates, livestock and cattle farms, aquaculture and pasture lands ~ Upon consultation
with the agricultural workers, the lands of commercial farms, agricultural estates, livestock
and cattle farms, orchards, fruit farms, aquaculture, and pasture lands shall be distributed
to the agricultural workers or workers in the concept of producers’ cooperatives or
collective ownership. In the case of livestock and cattle farms, aquaculture and pasture, the
lands to be distributed shall include the non-land assets. The organization of agricultural
workers or workers which receives the land and non-land assets shall act as State
administrator and all its decisions and acts involving the property shall have the consent
and approval of the majority of agricultural workers or workers.

Being in the nature of producers’ cooperatives and collective ownership, agricultural
workers or workers who get employed in the joint corporate undertaking or in the cattle
and livestock farms, aquaculture, and pasture lands after the land distribution shall be
considered part of the producers’ cooperatives or collective ownership, as the case maybe,
and shall be entitled to a share of the income, profits and all other benefits the land and
non-land assets will generate.


SECTION 41. Management or decision making body of joint corporate undertaking —
The joint corporate undertaking that will be formed between the agricultural workers and
the owner of the non-land assets shall be managed by a three-man management committee.
‘Two (2) of the members of the management committee shall come from the ranks of
agricultural workers, chosen by and among themselves, who shall serve on the pleasure of,
the agricultural workers.

However, if the lands of commercial farms and agricultural estates are found to fall under
the category of sullied landholdings, such lands and their non-land assets shall be managed
and operated by the agricultural workers in the same manner as the nationalized
agribusiness enterprise of TNCs.

SECTION 42. Livestock and cattle farms, aquaculture and pasture lands to be operated
as producers? cooperatives ~ The livestock and cattle farms, aquaculture and pasture shall
be operated by their beneficiaries as producers’ cooperatives. The Department in
collaboration with the existing organization of farmers in the barangay or municipality
where the land is situated shall assist the beneficiaries in forming a producers’ cooperative.

XIL. Just Compensation

SECTION 43. Determining just compensation for lands subject to expropriation ~ The
lands subject to expropriation shall be paid just compensation to be preliminarily
determined by the Department in accordance with the following:

a. Inall landholdings above fifteen (15) hectares, the just compensation shall be based on,
whichever is lower, the purchase price of the land or the average tax assessment on the land
for the last three (3) years prior to the effectivity of this Act.

b. In the case of landowners who are given the option to sell provided in Section 17, and
landowners with landholdings below five (5) hectares, the just compensation for their lands
shall be the price agreed upon after negotiations involving the Department, the tenants or
farmers or agricultural workers tilling the land, the farmers’ organizations and the
landowner concerned.

Within five (5) days after a landowner offers his land for sale to the State, the PCCAR shall
call a valuation negotiation meeting to be participated by the landowner concerned, a
Department representative, the tenants or agricultural workers of the landowner and a
representative of the farmers’ organization in the municipality where the land is located.
Where the landowner has no tenant or agricultural worker, the farmers occupying and
tilling the land shall be allowed to participate in the valuation negotiation meeting.

If the negotiations cannot reach an agreement after a month, the lands shall be paid just
compensation which shall be preliminarily based on the average tax assessment for the last
three (3) years prior to the effectivity of this Act.

In the case of retirees, overseas Filipino workers, professionals, and low and middle-income
employees who have acquired landholdings within the last five (5) years before the
effectivity of this Act, if the negotiations cannot reach an agreement after a month, their
lands shalll be paid just compensation preliminarily based on the purchase price.


c. In the case of landowners who are given the option to sell under Section 17 of this Act
but failed to avail of their option within the prescribed period, the just compensation for
their lands shall be preliminarily based on the average tax assessment for the last three (3)
years prior to the effectivity of this Act.

SECTION 44. Modes of payment — The compensation for the expropriated lands shall be
made through a combination of any of the following:

a. cash payment;

b, shares of investment in industrial or commercial enterprise;

c. tax credits which can be used to offset against any tax liability; and
d, set-off of unpaid loans from any financial institution.

xi

Exclusive Jurisdiction and Immunity of the Department
From Judicial Intervention

SECTION 45. Exclusive and primary jurisdiction of the Department ~ The Department
and its deputized People’s Coordinating Council for Agrarian Reform shall have exclusive
and primary jurisdiction over all disputes or cases involving the adjudication of issues,
questions and controversies, including the preliminary determination of just compensation,
necessary and related to the implementation of this Act.

SECTION 46. Preliminary determination of the case by the Department — No court,
tribunal, or prosecutor shall take cognizance of any case, civil or criminal, designed to
remove, eject, oust, exclude, or harass potential, qualified and awarded farmer-beneficiaries
under this Act, unless certified by the Secretary of the Department that the case is proper
for trial or hearing by a court or judge or other officer of competent jurisdiction. If any such
case is filed with any court, tribunal or prosecutor, the case shall be referred to the Secretary
of the Department for a preliminary determination if the case is an agrarian matter, dispute
or controversy as defined under this Act. If the Secretary of the Department finds that the
case is a proper case for the court or judge or other hearing officer to hear, he/she shall so
certify and such court, judge or other hearing officers may assume jurisdiction over the
dispute or controversy.

The preliminary determination of the Secretary of the Department that the case, dispute or
controversy is an agrarian matter, shall be final and binding upon the judge, prosecutor or
any other officer of competent jurisdiction.

If the case is certified as a proper case for trial, said certification is not binding upon the
court or judge or hearing officer. Said court or judge or hearing officer may, after due
hearing, affirm, reverse or modify said preliminary determination, as the evidence and
substantial merits of the case may warrant.

SECTION 47. Immunity of the Department from judicial intervention ~ No temporary
restraining order, injunction, prohibition or mandamus shall be issued by the lower courts
against the Department in the exercise of its exclusive and primary jurisdiction and in the
performance of its duties and functions necessary and relevant to the implementation of
this Act.


XIV. Provisions For the Protection of the Lands of Beneficiaries

SECTION 48. Prohibition against sale, mortgage, transfer or any conveyance or
disposition — The sale, mortgage, transfer or any conveyance or disposition of the lands
awarded to farmer-beneficiaries shall be prohibited except where the transfer is by
hereditary succession. In the case of transfer by hereditary succession, the land shall be
given to the heir who is willing to personally till the land and the most needy among the
children of the farmer-beneficiary.

If the farmer-beneficiary can no longer till the land for one reason or another, he/she shall
turn over the land to the farmers’ organization or cooperative existing in the barrio or
municipality. The farmers’ organization or cooperative shall then select the most qualified
farmer-beneficiary with preference to the heirs who are most needy and are willing to till
the land,

SECTION 49. Prohibition against land reclassification and land use conversion ~The
lands covered by land distribution or already awarded to farmer-beneficiaries under this
Act shall not be subject to conversion and reclassification by any government unit, agency,
institution or instrumentality. All pending reclassification proceedings shall be terminated
upon the effectivity of this Act.

SECTION 50. Immunity of covered lands from levy on unpaid taxes and writing off of
tax arrears and delinquencies ~ The lands covered by this Act and already awarded to
farmer-beneficiaries shall be immune from any levy on unpaid taxes. In all cases of unpaid
taxes of farmer-beneficiaries, it shall be the obligation of the farmers” organization in the
barrio or municipality to come to the aid of farmer-beneficiaries by negotiating in their
behalf with the local government unit or other revenue-collecting agencies of the
government for such terms and conditions that will enable the farmer-beneficiaries to pay
their tax arrearages and delinquencies without compromising the needs of their families.
The terms and conditions reached in the negotiations shall have the consent of the farmer-
beneficiary concerned.

If the tax arrearages of farmer-beneficiaries are caused by crop failure brought about by
fortuitous event or force majeure, the farmer-beneficiaries shall enjoy a three-year tax
moratorium to enable them to recover from the crop failure.

The arrearages and delinquencies incurred by farmer-beneficiaries in the payment of
property tax attached to the amortization schedule of lands already distributed under P.D.
27 and R. A. 6657, as amended by R.A. 9700, are hereby declared as written off.

SECTION 51. Indefeasibility of the land distribution of this Act — The act of land
distribution to the farmer-beneficiaries under this Act shall be indefeasible, except on the
issue of adverse claim of another farmer-beneficiary to preferential right over the land, and
its indefeasibility takes effect upon the identification by the Department of the farmer-
beneficiaries as beneficiary of land distribution.

Inno case shall any lower court or judge take cognizance of any case, complaint, or petition
filed by any person questioning the award directly or collaterally.


Any adverse claim of ownership to the land or to just compensation shall not in any way
affect nor constitute a bar to the distribution of the land to the farmer-beneficiaries.

SECTION 52. Land Reform Zones as protected areas ~ The Land Reform Zones are
hereby declared as protected areas from any economic activity that causes destruction in
the ecological system as to affect the productivity of the lands awarded to farmer-
beneficiaries or any economic activity in which the farmer-beneficiaries run the risk of
losing their livelihood and control over their lands. Such activities shall be strictly
prohibited from the Land Reform Zones.

XV. Promotion of Cooperatives

SECTION 53. Promotion of cooperatives among the farmer-beneficiaries — The
Department shall promote the formation, harmonized and synchronized with land
distribution, of the farmer-beneficiaries into cooperatives and other organizations of
mutual-aid. It shall encourage the farmer-beneficiaries to pool together their productive
resources and labor in order to increase their production and income and to equitably share
in the benefits of improved production. It shall endeavor to make the cooperative the basic
unit of production among the beneficiaries.

SECTION 54. Integrating the cooperative education program in the process of land
distribution — The Department shall devise and develop an education and training program
for the promotion of cooperatives among the farmer-beneficiaries. The program shall
include the imparting and development of skills in cooperative organizing, cooperative
administration, cooperative finance, and cooperative production. It shall be integrated into
the land distribution process.

SECTION 55. Incentives program for beneficiaries’ cooperatives - The Department,
together with the PCCAR, farmers’ organizations and the DA, shall devise an incentives
program for cooperatives of farmer-beneficiaries.

XVI. Support Services and Improving the Productivity
and Working Conditions of the Beneficiaries

SECTION $6. Support services ~ The State shall implement a program for the delivery of
support services to farmer-beneficiaries. The program shall be based on a holistic approach
to human and social development and integrated into the land distribution program with
the long term end view of increasing the productivity of farmer-beneficiaries in order to
transform them into cooperatives or organizations of efficient member-producers.

Along this thrust, the program of support services shall consist of credit facilities,
production support, post-harvest, market access and market price guarantees and such other
services necessary to make their production viable and increase their income. The credit
facility shall have an interest rate affordable to the farmer-beneficiaries and shall make full
use of alternative collateral systems that do not put up as collateral the land of farmer-
beneficiaries.

The support services for production shall include research for the development of
sustainable farming technology to sever the farmer-beneficiaries from dependence on
imported technology and inputs.


SECTION 57. State support to agricultural workers? enterprise in nationalized lands;
and provision for same incentives and privileges — The State, through the Department
together with the DA and DTI and other appropriate government agencies, shall extend to
the agricultural workers operating the farms or plantations in nationalized lands all the
indispensable and necessary support, incentives, and privileges to make their enterprise
viable.

SECTION 58. Improving the working conditions of agricultural workers in nationalized
lands, commercial farms, and agricultural estates - a) The status of employment, rank,
wages and benefits of agricultural workers in nationalized agribusiness enterprise and in
joint corporate relations shall not be diminished from the level they received prior to land
distribution; b) there shall be no cut-off in the length of service of all agricultural workers
under the new operations of lands distributed; c) all seasonal, casual, contractual, project
employee, piece-rate workers and other employees shall be considered regular employees;
and, d) the agricultural workers shall be entitled to a share in the income and profit of the
enterprise.

SECTION 59. Improving the working conditions of agricultural workers employed by
higher-income and middle-income farmers - Higher-income and middle-income farmers
who are employing agricultural workers shall increase the wages and improve the working
conditions of their agricultural workers.

XVII. Budgetary Provision and Strengthening the Department

SECTION 60. Progressive augmentation of Department budget for LAD~ During the
five (5) years of implementation of the land acquisition and distribution (LAD) program
under this Act, the Department shall have a progressively augmented regular annual budget
starting with Fifly Billion Pesos (P50 B) on the first year which shall increase by not less
than Two Billion Pesos (P 2B) every year thereafter.

Whatever excess in the budget for LAD shall be appropriated and disbursed for support
service to the farmers.

SECTION 61. Augmentation of personnel — To carry out its mandate under this Act,
subject to civil service laws and rules, the Department shall recruit additional personnel for
the various tasks and functions involved in the land distribution program: Provided, That
the annual total expenditures for the recruitment of additional personnel shall not exceed
twenty per cent (20 %) of the annual total increment to the total budget.

SECTION 62. The PCCAR and Strengthening the links of the Department with farmers?
organizations and other agrarian reform stakeholders - The Department shall
immediately initiate the creation of a People’s Coordinating Council for Agrarian Reform
to be composed of representatives from the Department and the DA and leaders of all
cooperatives and organizations of farmers, agricultural workers, fisherfolks, indigenous
peoples, rural women, and agrarian reform advocates existing in a Land Reform Zone, or
any representative appointed by such organizations. The PCCAR shall be the deputized


people’s coordinating council and support arm of the Department in conducting the survey
of beneficiaries, drawing the land distribution plan, assessing the quality of the lands,
conducting education and information campaign, promoting cooperatives and in delivering
support services to the farmer-beneficiaries. It shall serve as coordinating body for
involving the broad ranks of farmers and agrarian reform advocates, through their leaders
and chosen representatives, in all aspects of the land distribution so that the Department
can harness and deploy the personnel and resources of such organizations and sectors in
carrying out land distribution.

XVIIL The Land Reform Support Services Fund

SECTION 63. Land Reform Support Services Fund -In addition to the annual budget of
the Department, the amount of Fifty Billion Pesos (PSOB) is hereby allocated for the
implementation of the support services program of this Act. The amount shall be
constituted as Land Reform Support Services Fund which shall primarily serve as trust fund
to ensure the delivery of support services to farmer-beneficiaries.

The local government units in Land Reform Zones shall augment the Land Reform Support
Services Fund by allocating ten percent (10%) of their annual budget to the provision of
support services for the farmer-beneficiaries in their area of jurisdiction.

SECTION 64. Releases of Land Reform Support Services Fund, annual total budget and
particular allocation — The Land Reform Support Services Fund shall be released to the
Department in tranches of Ten Billion Pesos (P10B) each year for the five-year period of
implementation of this Act. The annual tranche releases shall be integrated into the annual
budget of the Department to constitute the total annual budget (annual regular budget of
the Department plus tranche releases from the Land Reform Support Services Fund):
Provided, That sixty percent (60%) of the total annual budget shall be allocated as follows:

a. Thirty percent (30 %) for credit facilities;

b. Thirty percent (30 %) for production support;

c. Thirty-five percent (35 %) for post-harvest facilities development, market
access, marketing, and price guarantees; and

d. Five percent (5%) for research and development .

XIX. Transitory Provisions
SECTION 65. Reduction of all land rents to ten percent (10%) of the net harvest during
the implementation period — During the five (5) year land distribution period, all leasehold
or tenancy rents in lands covered by land distribution but not yet actually distributed, shall
be reduced to 10 - 90 percent sharing of the net harvest in favor of the farmer leaseholder
or tenant: Provided, That the cost of production shall be shouldered equally by the
landowner and the leaseholder or tenant.

SECTION 66. Education and information drive ~ The PCCAR in each Land Reform
Zone shall conduct a top-to-bottom education and information drive on the provisions of
this Act. For this purpose, it shall involve and mobilize the organizations of farmers,
agricultural workers, fisherfolks, indigenous peoples and other agrarian reform
stakeholders. The education and information campaign shall reach out not only to the


population of farmer-beneficiaries but also to workers, businessmen, government officials,
teachers, students and other sectors in order to develop among these various
sectors the sense of public stake in genuine agrarian reform.

SECTION 67. Duty of Notaries Public and Register of Deeds — Upon the effectivity of
this Act, a Notary Public shall not notarize a document involving the sale, mortgage,
transfer, conveyance, or any disposition of agricultural lands without any certification from
the Department that the land is not covered by land distribution. The Notary Public who
notarizes any document involving the sale, mortgage, transfer, conveyance or disposition
of any land shall furnish the Department a copy of the document within three (3) days after
notarizing the document.

The Register of Deeds shall likewise report to the Department any application for
registration involving the sale, mortgage, transfer, conveyance or any disposition of
agricultural lands within twenty-four (24) hours after the receipt of such application and
shall refrain action thereon until favorable recommendation is issued by the Department.

In filing the report, the ROD shall furnish the Department all documents, including the
history of ownership of the land, necessary and relevant to determining whether the
transaction is with the intent to evade land distribution. The ROD shall not act on the
application unless the Department issues a certification that the land is not covered by land
distribution. If the Department certifies that the land is covered by land distribution, the
ROD shall deny the application.

SECTION 68. Five-year tax holiday for farmer-beneficiaries ~The farmer-beneficiaries
of land distribution shall enjoy a five-year tax holiday to be reckoned from the date of their
actual occupation and tilling of the land.

XX. Prohibited Acts and Penal Provisions
SECTION 69. Prohibited Acts -The following acts and omissions shall be prohibited:

1. The sale, mortgage, transfer, conveyance, or any disposition of agricultural lands
by the landowner upon the effectivity of this Act except when the transfer is by
hereditary succession;

2. The ousting by the landowner of his tenants, leaseholders or farmers actually tilling
the land for any reason;

3. The submission by the landowner of persons who are not actual tillers of the land in
order to install fake or dummy beneficiaries;

4, Inducing or using coercion, threat or intimidation on the farmer-beneficiaries to sell,
mortgage, transfer, convey or dispose the lands awarded them in violation of
Section 49 of this Act;

5. Inducing or using coercion, threat or intimidation on the farmer-beneficiaries to
effect the conversion of the lands awarded them in violation of Section 50 of this
Act;

6. Converting lands covered by this Act or already awarded to farmer-beneficiaries
to uses other than agricultural in violation of Section 50 of this Act;

7. Refusal to vacate the premises of the land and resisting the enforcement of the

Compulsory Acquisition Order;


8. Concealing properties identified by the Department as part of the land and non-land
assets to be expropriated or confiscated or damaging such properties to render them
useless to the farmer-beneficiaries;

9. The act of notarizing, in violation of the first paragraph of Section 68 of this Act, by
a Notary Public any document involving the sale, mortgage, transfer, conveyance
or any disposition of agricultural lands or the failure of the Notary Public to furnish
the Department a copy of the document as mentioned Section 68 of this Act; and

10. The misdeclaration, submission of false report or the failure of the ROD, in violation
of the second paragraph of Section 68, to report any application for registration
involving the sale, mortgage, transfer, conveyance or disposition of lands covered
by this Act or the registration of the sale, mortgage, transfer, conveyance or
disposition of the land without the required certification from the Department;

SECTION 70. Penalties — a.) The commission of any of the prohibited acts or omissions
mentioned in the preceding Section, except in the case of failure of the Notary Public to
furnish the Department a copy of the document mentioned in Section 68, shall, upon
conviction, be punished by imprisonment of not less than six (6) years and one (1) day but
not exceeding ten (10) years and by imposition of a fine of not less than One Hundred Fifty
Thousand Pesos (P150,000) but not exceeding Two Hundred

Fifty Thousand Pesos (P250,000). If the convicted person is a government official or
employee, he/she shall suffer the additional penalty of permanent disqualification to hold
any public office.

b,) The failure of the Notary Public to furnish the Department a copy of the document
mentioned in the first paragraph of Section 68 of this Act shall, upon conviction, be
punished by imprisonment of not less than four (4) months but not exceeding six (6) months
and a fine of not less than Twenty Five Thousand Pesos (P25,000) but not exceeding Fifty
Thousand Pesos (P50,000). In addition, he/she shall be permanently disqualified to hold
the commission of Notary Public.

c.) Any prosecutor or judge who violates the prohibitions mentioned in Section 47 and the
second paragraph of Section 52 of this Act shall, upon conviction, be punished by
imprisonment of not less than four (4) years but not exceeding six (6) years and a fine of
not less than One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000) but not exceeding One Hundred
Fifty Thousand Pesos (150,000). In addition, he/she shall be permanently disqualified to
hold any public office.

XXI. Miscellaneous Provisions

SECTION 71. Implementing Rules and Regulations ~ The Department, in consultation
with the PCCAR, farmers’ organizations and advocates of agrarian reform, shall issue the
Implementing Rules and Regulations of this Act within fifteen (15) days from its
effectivity.

SECTION 72. Separability Clause — If, for any reason, any section or provision of this
Act is declared null and void, no other sections, provision, or part hereof shall be affected
and the same shall remain in full force and effect.

SECTION 73. Repealing Clause — Laws including Republic Act No. 6657 as amended by
Republic Act No.9700, decrees including Presidential Decree No. 27, presidential


proclamations, executive and administrative orders, ordinances and other issuances that are
inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed and amended accordingly.

SECTION 74. Effectivity Clause — This Act shall take effect immediately upon its
publication in the Official Gazette or at least two (2) national newspapers of general
circulation.

Approved.