HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LAND REFORM IN THE PHILIPPINES

As a former colony of Spain, the Philippines had inherited a land tenure system that was feudal in character. Vast land possessions were appropriated by religious orders such as the Augustinians, Dominicans and Recollects.

During the Spanish era, the government attempted to classified land tenure by urging landholders to secure titles to their lands. Though, the system did not work at all because it led to land grabbing by the elite and influential groups and consigned small landholders to the role of share-tenants.

During the first Philippine Republic, the government which was headed General Emilio Aguinaldo attempted to confiscate large landed estates, especially the Friar lands (lands shared by Augustinians, Dominicans and Recollects). Yet this did not materialize because the term of the Republic was short.

During the American regime, several land reform laws were passed to coordinated and improved land tenure. The Philippine Bill of 1902 was one of the most significant legislation gave more specific conditions on the final settlements or disposition of public lands. The Land Registration Act of 1902 (Act No. 496) provided a systematic registration of land titles under the Torrens System and the Rice Share Agency Act of 1933 (Act No. 4056) regulated relationships between landowners and tenants of sugar can fields.

Existing laws on land tenure were strengthened and improved during the Commonwealth period. This is so by :

1. giving more freedom to the landowners and tenants to enter into tenancy contracts not contrary to law, morals and public policy;

2. providing for compulsory arbitration of agrarian conflicts; and

3. suspending any action to eject tenants.

Expropriation of landed estates and other big landholdings started as dictated by the social justice program of government. Also, the government has had an orderly settlement of virgin public agricultural lands begun by the National Land Settlement Administration (NLSA).

Yet, problems of land tenure persisted and in certain areas became worse after the proclamation of Philippine Independence in 1946. Inequities in the distribution of land continued to threaten the stability of the agricultural sector. While laws were passed to improved tenancy relations, circumvention of sharecropping regulations remained the principal irritant of land tenure. Thus, it triggered the formulation of national policy to abolish share tenancy. The first big step towards the abolition of share tenancy was the passage of the Agricultural Land Reform Code (R.A. 3844) by the Congress on August 8, 1963. This new state policy was the establishment of owner-cultivatorship and the economic family-size farm as the foundation of Philippine agriculture. Landlord capital in agriculture was envisioned to be diverted to industrial development.

In 1971, the state policy to establish ownership-cultivatorship had barely made a headway. The government recognized the need to accelerate program implementation thus on September 10, 1971, the Congress passed R.A. 6389 with the view of removing obstacles that have stymied the program. The law also created a new administrative machinery which is the Department of Agrarian Reform to replace the unwieldy six-agency organization.