Article 103Labor and Agrarian Laws and Social Legislation, p. 103

LABOR LAWS AND SOCIAL LEGISLATION SPECIAL LAWS AND IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS

The DAR shall establish and maintain a women's

desk, which will be primarily responsible for formulating

and implementing programs and activities related to the

protection and promotion of women's rights, as well as

providing an avenue where women can register their

complaints and grievances principally related t o their

rural activities.

Section 38. Support Services for Landowners . —

The PARC, with the assistance of such other government

agencies and instrumentalities as it may direct, shall

provide landowners affected by the CARP and prior

agrarian reform programs with the following services:

(a) Investment information, financial and counseling

assistance,

particularly

investment

information

on

government-owned and/or -controlled corporations and

disposable

assets

of

the

government

in

pursuit

of

national industrialization and economic independence:

(b)

Facilities,

programs

and

schemes

for

the

conversion or exchange of bonds issued for payment of

the lands acquired with stocks and bonds issued by the

National Government, the BSP and other government

institutions and instrumentalities;

(c) Marketing of agrarian reform bonds, as well as

promoting the marketability of said bonds in traditional

and

non-traditional

financial

markets

and

stock

exchanges: and/or

(d) Other services designed t o utilize productively the

proceeds

of

the

sale

of

such

lands

for

rural

industrialization.

A landowner who invests in rural-based industries

shall be entitled to the incentives granted to a registered

enterprise engaged in a pioneer or preferred area of

investment as provided for in the Omnibus Investment

Code of 1987,or to such other incentives as the PARC, the

LBP, or other government financial institutions shall

provide.

The LBP shall redeem a landowner's agrarian reform

bonds at face value as an incentive: Provided, That at least

fifty percent (50%) of the proceeds thereof shall be

invested

in

a

Board

of Investments (BOI)-registered

company

or

in

any

agri-business

or

agro-industrial

enterprise

in

the

region

where

the

CARP-covered

landholding is located. An additional incentive of two

percent (2%) in cash shall be paid to a landowner who

maintains his/her enterprise as a going concern for five

(5) years or keeps his/her investments in a BOI- registered

firm for the same period: Provided, further, That the rights

of the agrarian reform beneficiaries are not, in any way,

prejudiced or impaired thereby.

The DAR, the LBP and the Department of Trade and

Industry shall jointly formulate the program to carry out

these provisions under the supervision of the PARC:

Provided, That in no case shall the landowners' sex,

economic, religious, social, cultural and political attributes

exclude them from accessing these support services.

Section 39. Land Consolidation . — The DAR shall

carry out land consolidation projects to promote equal

distribution

of

landholdings,

to

provide

the

needed

infrastructures in agriculture, and to conserve soil fertility

and prevent erosion.

CHAPTER X Special Areas of Concern

Section 40. Special Areas of Concern . — As an

integral part of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform

Program, the following principles in these special areas of

concern shall be observed:

(1) Subsistence Fishing . — Small fisherfolk, including

seaweed farmers, shall be assured of greater access to the

utilization of water resources.

(2) Logging and Mining Concessions . — Subject to

the requirement of a balanced ecology and conservation

of water resources, suitable areas, as determined by the

Department

of

Environment

and

Natural

Resources

(DENR), in logging, mining and pasture areas, shall be

opened up for agrarian settlements whose beneficiaries

shall

be

required

to

undertake

reforestation

and

conservation production methods. Subject to existing

laws, rules and regulations, settlers and members of tribal

communities shall be allowed to enjoy and exploit the

products of the forest other than timer within the logging

concessions.

(3) Sparsely Occupied Public Agricultural Lands . —

Sparsely occupied agricultural lands of the public domain

shall be surveyed, proclaimed and developed as farm

settlements for qualified landless people based on an

organized program to ensure their orderly and early

development.

Agricultural land allocations shall be made for ideal

family-size farms as determined by the PARC. Pioneers

and

other settlers shall be treated equally in every

respect.

Subject to the prior rights of qualified beneficiaries,

uncultivated lands of the public domain shall be made

available on a lease basis to interested and qualified

parties. Parties who will engaged in the development of

capital-intensive, traditional or pioneering crops shall be

given priority.

The lease period, which shall not be more than a total

of fifty (50) years, shall be proportionate to the amount of

investment and production goals of the lessee. A system

of evaluation and audit shall be instituted.

(4) Idle, Abandoned, Foreclosed and Sequestered

Lands . — Idle, abandoned, foreclosed and sequestered

lands shall be planned for distribution as home lots and

family-size

farmlots

to

actual

occupants.f

land

area

permits, other landless families shall be accommodated

in these lands.

(5) Rural Women . — All qualified women members of

the agricultural labor force must be guaranteed and

assured equal right to ownership of the land, equal shares

of the farm's produce, and representation in advisory or

appropriate decision-making bodies.

(6) Veterans and Retirees . — In accordance with

Section 7 of Article XVI of the Constitution, landless war

veterans

and

veterans

of

military

campaigns,

their

surviving spouse and orphans, retirees of the Armed

Forces

of

the

Philippines

(AFP)

and the Integrated

National Police (INP), returnees, surrenderees, and similar

beneficiaries shall be given due consideration in the

disposition of agricultural lands of the public domain.

(7) Agriculture Graduates . — Graduates of agricultural

schools

who

are

landless

shall

be

assisted

by

the

government, through the DAR, in their desire to own and

till agricultural lands.

CHAPTER XI Program Implementation

Section

41.

The

Presidential

Agrarian

Reform

Council . — The Presidential Agrarian Reform Council

(PARC)

shall

be

composed

of the President of the

Philippines as Chairperson, the Secretary of Agrarian

Reform

as

Vice-Chairperson

and

the

following

as

members: Secretaries of the Departments of Agriculture;

Environment

and

Natural

Resources;

Budget

and

Management;

Interior

and Local Government; Public

Works and Highways; Trade and Industry; Finance; and

Labor and Employment; Director-General of the National

Economic and Development Authority; President, Land

Bank of the Philippines; Administrator, National Irrigation

Administration;

Administrator,

Land

Registration

Authority;

and

six

(6)

representatives

of

affected

landowners to represent Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao; six

(6) representatives of agrarian reform beneficiaries, two

(2) each from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao: Provided ,

That at least one (1) of them shall be from the indigenous

peoples: Provided , further , That at least one (1)of them

shall come from a duly recognized national organization

of rural women or a national organization of agrarian

reform beneficiaries with a substantial number of women

members: Provided, finally, That at least twenty percent

(20%) of the members of the PARC shall be women but in

no case shall they be less than two (Z).

Section 42. Executive Committee . — There shall be

an Executive Committee (EXCOM) of the PARC composed

of the Secretary of the DAR as Chairman, and such other

members as the President may designate, taking into

account Article XIII, Section 5 of the Constitution. Unless

otherwise directed by PARC, the EXCOM may meet and

decide on any and all matters in between meetings of the

© Compiled By RGL

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