Article 94Labor and Agrarian Laws and Social Legislation, p. 94

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

The State shall recognize and enforce, consistent with

existing laws, the rights of rural women to own and

control land, taking into consideration the substantive

equality

between

men

and

women

as

qualified

beneficiaries, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof,

and

to

be

represented

in

advisory

or

appropriate

decision-making

bodies.

These

rights

shall

be

independent of their male relatives and of their civil

status.

The State shall apply the principles of agrarian reform,

or stewardship, whenever applicable, in accordance with

law, in the disposition or utilization of other natural

resources, including lands of the public domain, under

lease or concession, suitable to agriculture, subject to

prior rights, homestead rights of small settlers and the

rights of indigenous communities to their ancestral lands.

The State may resettle landless farmers and farm

workers in its own agricultural estates, which shall be

distributed to them in the manner provided by law.

By means of appropriate incentives, the State shall

encourage

the

formation

and

maintenance

of

economic-size

family

farms

to

be

constituted

by

individual beneficiaries and small landowners.

The State shall protect the rights of subsistence

fishermen,

especially

of

local

communities,

to

the

preferential

use

of

communal

marine

and

fishing

resources, both inland and offshore. It shall provide

support

to

such

fishermen

through

appropriate

technology and research, adequate financial, production

and marketing assistance and other services. The State

shall also protect, develop and conserve such resources.

The protection shall extend to offshore fishing grounds of

subsistence

fishermen

against

foreign

intrusion.

Fishworkers shall receive a just share from their labor in

the utilization of marine and fishing resources.

The State shall be guided by the principles that land

has a social function and land ownership has a social

responsibility.

Owners

of

agricultural

land

have

the

obligation

to

cultivate

directly

or

through

labor

administration the lands they own and thereby make the

land productive.

The State shall provide incentives to landowners to

invest the proceeds of the agrarian reform program to

promote industrialization, employment and privatization

of public sector enterprises. Financial instruments used

as payment for lands shall contain features that shall

enhance

negotiability

and

acceptability

in

the

marketplace.

The State may lease undeveloped lands of the public

domain to qualified entities for the development of

capital-intensive farms, and traditional and pioneering

crops especially those for exports subject to the prior

rights of the beneficiaries under this Act.

Section 3. Definitions . — For the purpose of this Act,

unless the context indicates otherwise:

(a) Agrarian Reform means redistribution of lands,

regardless of crops or fruits produced, to farmers and

regular farmworkers who are landless, irrespective of

tenurial arrangement, to include the totality of factors

and support services designed to lift the economic status

of

the

beneficiaries

and

all

other

arrangements

alternative to the physical redistribution of lands, such as

production or profit-sharing, labor administration, and

the distribution of shares of stocks, which will allow

beneficiaries to receive a just share of the fruits of the

lands they work.

(b) Agriculture, Agricultural Enterprise or Agricultural

Activity means the cultivation of the soil, planting of

crops, growing of fruit trees, including the harvesting of

such

farm

products,

and

other

farm

activities

and

practices performed by a farmer in conjunction with such

farming operations done by persons whether natural or

juridical.

(c)

Agricultural

Land

refers

to

land

devoted

to

agricultural

activity

as

defined

in this Act and not

classified as mineral, forest, residential, commercial or

industrial land.

(d) Agrarian Dispute refers to any controversy relating

to tenurial arrangements, whether leasehold, tenancy,

stewardship

or

otherwise,

over

lands

devoted

to

agriculture, including disputes concerning farmworkers'

associations or representation of persons in negotiating,

fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange

terms or conditions of such tenurial arrangements.

It includes any controversy relating to compensation

of lands acquired under this Act and other terms and

conditions of transfer of ownership from landowners to

farmworkers,

tenants

and

other

agrarian

reform

beneficiaries,

whether

the

disputants

stand

in

the

proximate relation of farm operator and beneficiary,

landowner and tenant, or lessor and lessee.

(e) Idle or Abandoned Land refers to any agricultural

land not cultivated, tilled or developed to produce any

crop nor devoted to any specific economic purpose

continuously for a period of three (3) years immediately

prior

to the receipt of notice of acquisition by the

government as provided under this Act, but does not

include land that has become permanently or regularly

devoted to non-agricultural purposes.t does not include

land which has become unproductive by reason of force

majeure or any other fortuitous event, provided that prior

to

such

event,

such

land

was

previously

used

for

agricultural or other economic purpose.

(f) Farmer refers to a natural person whose primary

livelihood is cultivation of land or the production of

agricultural crops, livestock and/or fisheries either by

himself/herself, or primarily with the assistance of his/her

immediate farm household, whether the land is owned

by him/her, or by another person under a leasehold or

share

tenancy

agreement

or

arrangement with the

owner thereof.

(g) Farmworker is a natural person who renders

service

for

value

as

an

employee

or laborer in an

agricultural enterprise or farm regardless of whether his

compensation is paid on a daily, weekly, monthly or

"pakyaw" basis. The term includes an individual whose

work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection

with, a pending agrarian dispute and who has not

obtained a substantially equivalent and regular farm

employment.

(h) Regular Farmworker is a natural person who is

employed

on

a

permanent basis by an agricultural

enterprise or farm.

(i) Seasonal Farmworker is a natural person who is

employed on a recurrent, periodic or intermittent basis by

an

agricultural

enterprise

or

farm,

whether

as

a

permanent

or

a

non-permanent

laborer,

such

as

"dumaan", "sacada", and the like.

(j) Other Farmworker is a farmworker who does not

fall under paragraphs (g), (h) and (i).

(k)

Cooperatives

shall

refer

to

organizations

composed

primarily

of

small

agricultural

producers,

farmers,

farmworkers,

or

other

agrarian

reform

beneficiaries who voluntarily organize themselves for the

purpose of pooling land, human, technological, financial

or

other

economic

resources,

and operated on the

principle of one member, one vote. A juridical person may

be a member of a cooperative, with the same rights and

duties as a natural person.

(l)

Rural women refer to women who are engaged

directly or indirectly in farming and/or fishing as their

source of livelihood, whether paid or unpaid, regular or

seasonal,

or

in

food

preparation,

managing

the

household, caring for the children, and other similar

activities.

CHAPTER II Coverage

Section 4. Scope . — The Comprehensive Agrarian

Reform Law of 1988 shall cover, regardless of tenurial

arrangement and commodity produced, all public and

private agricultural lands as provided in Proclamation No.

131 and Executive Order No. 229, including other lands of

the public domain suitable for agriculture: Provided , That

landholdings of landowners with a total area of five (5)

hectares and below shall not be covered for acquisition

and distribution to qualified beneficiaries.

More specifically, the following lands are covered by

the CARP:

© Compiled By RGL

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