Article 95Labor and Agrarian Laws and Social Legislation, p. 95

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

(a) All alienable and disposable lands of the public

domain

devoted

to

or

suitable

for

agriculture.

No

reclassification of forest or mineral lands to agricultural

lands shall be undertaken after the approval of this Act

until

Congress,

taking

into

account

ecological,

developmental

and

equity

considerations, shall have

determined by law, the specific limits of the public

domain;

(b) All lands of the public domain in excess of the

specific

limits

as

determined

by

Congress

in

the

preceding paragraph;

(c) All other lands owned by the Government devoted

to or suitable for agriculture; and

(d)

All

private

lands

devoted

to

or

suitable

for

agriculture regardless of the agricultural products raised

or that can be raised thereon.

A comprehensive inventory system in consonance

with the national land use plan shall be instituted by the

Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), in accordance

with the Local Government Code, for the purpose of

properly identifying and classifying farmlands within one

(1)year from effectivity of this Act, without prejudice to the

implementation of the land acquisition and distribution.

Section 5. Schedule of Implementation . — The

distribution of all lands covered by this Act shall be

implemented immediately and completed within ten (10)

years from the effectivity thereof.

Section 6. Retention Limits . — Except as otherwise

provided in this Act, no person may own or retain, directly

or indirectly, any public or private agricultural land, the

size of which shall vary according to factors governing a

viable family-size farm, such as commodity produced,

terrain, infrastructure, and soil fertility as determined by

the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) created

hereunder,

but

in

no

case

shall

retention

by

the

landowner exceed five (5) hectares. Three (3) hectares

may be awarded to each child of the landowner, subject

to the following qualifications: (1) that he is at least fifteen

(15) years of age; and (2) that he is actually tilling the land

or directly managing the farm: provided, that landowners

whose lands have been covered by Presidential Decree

No. 27 shall be allowed to keep the areas originally

retained by them thereunder: provided, further, that

original homestead grantees or their direct compulsory

heirs who still own the original homestead at the time of

the approval of this Act shall retain the same areas as

long as they continue to cultivate said homestead.

The right to choose the area to be retained, which

shall be compact or contiguous, shall pertain to the

landowner: provided, however, that in case the area

selected for retention by the landowner is tenanted, the

tenant shall have the option to choose whether to remain

therein or be a beneficiary in the same or another

agricultural land with similar or comparable features.n

case the tenant chooses to remain in the retained area,

he shall be considered a leaseholder and shall lose his

right to be a beneficiary under this Act.n case the tenant

chooses to be a beneficiary in another agricultural land,

he loses his right as a leaseholder to the land retained by

the landowner. The tenant must exercise this option

within

a period of one (1) year from the time the

landowner manifests his choice of the area for retention.

In all cases, the security of tenure of the farmers or

farmworkers on the land prior to the approval of this Act

shall be respected.

Upon the effectivity of this Act, any sale, disposition,

lease, management, contract or transfer of possession of

private lands executed by the original landowner in

violation of the Act shall be null and void: provided,

however, that those executed prior to this Act shall be

valid only when registered with the Register of Deeds

within a period of three (3) months after the effectivity of

this Act. Thereafter, all Registers of Deeds shall inform the

Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) within thirty (30)

days of any transaction involving agricultural lands in

excess of five (5) hectares.

Section

6-A.

Exception

to

Retention

Limits .

-

Provincial,

city

and

municipal

government

,units

acquiring private agricultural lands by expropriation or

other modes of acquisition to be used for actual, direct

and exclusive public purposes, such as roads and bridges,

public markets, school sites, resettlement sites, local

government facilities, public parks and barangay plazas

or

squares,

consistent

with

the

approved

local

comprehensive land use plan, shall not be subject to the

five (5)-hectare retention limit under this Section and

Sections 70 and 73(a) of Republic Act No. 6657, as

amended: Provided, That lands subject to CARP shall first

undergo the land acquisition and distribution process of

the program: Provided, further, That when these lands

have been subjected to expropriation, the agrarian reform

beneficiaries therein shall be paid just compensation.

Section 6-B. Review of Limits of Land Size . - Within

six (6) months from the effectivity of this Act, the DAR

shall submit a comprehensive study on the land size

appropriate for each type of crop to Congress for a

possible review of limits of land sizes provided in this Act.

Section 7. Priorities . — The DAR, in coordination with

the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) shall

plan and program the final acquisition and distribution of

all remaining unacquired and undistributed agricultural

lands from the effectivity of this Act until June 30, 2014.

Lands shall be acquired and distributed as follows:

Phase One: During the five (5)-year extension period

hereafter all remaining lands above fifty (50) hectares

shall be covered for purposes of agrarian reform upon the

effectivity of this Act. All private agricultural lands of

landowners with aggregate landholdings in excess of fifty

(50) hectares which have already been subjected to a

notice of coverage issued on or before December 10,

2008; rice and corn lands under Presidential Decree No.

27; all idle or abandoned lands; all private lands voluntarily

offered by the owners for agrarian reform: Provided , That

with

respect

to

voluntary

land

transfer,

only

those

submitted by June 30, 2009 shall be allowed Provided ,

further , That after June 30, 2009, the modes of acquisition

shall be limited to voluntary offer to sell and compulsory

acquisition: Provided , furthermore , That all previously

acquired lands wherein valuation is subject to challenge

by landowners shall be completed and finally resolved

pursuant to Section 17 of Republic Act No. 6657, as

amended:

Provided ,

finally ,

as

mandated

by

the

Constitution, Republic Act No. 6657, as amended, and

Republic Act No. 3844,as amended, only farmers (tenants

or lessees) and regular farmworkers actually tilling the

lands, as certified under oath by the Barangay Agrarian

Reform Council (BARC) and attested under oath by the

landowners, are the qualified beneficiaries. The intended

beneficiary shall state under oath before the judge of the

city or municipal court that he/she is willing to work on

the land to make it productive and to assume the

obligation

of

paying

the

amortization

for

the

compensation of the land and the land taxes thereon; all

lands foreclosed by government financial institutions; all

lands acquired by the Presidential Commission on Good

Government (PCGG); and all other lands owned by the

government devoted to or suitable for agriculture, which

shall be acquired and distributed immediately upon the

effectivity of this Act, with the implementation to be

completed by June 30, 2012;

Phase Two: (a) Lands twenty-four (24) hectares up to

fifty (50) hectares shall likewise be covered for purposes of

agrarian

reform upon the effectivity of this Act. All

alienable and disposable public agricultural lands; all

arable public agricultural lands under agro-forest, pasture

and agricultural leases already cultivated and planted to

crops in accordance with Section 6, Article XIII of the

Constitution; all public agricultural lands which are to be

opened for new development and resettlement: and all

private agricultural lands of landowners with aggregate

landholdings above twenty-four (24) hectares up to fifty

(50) hectares which have already been subjected to a

notice of coverage issued on or before December 1O,

2008, to implement principally the rights of farmers and

regular farmworkers, who are landless, to own directly or

collectively the lands they till, which shall be distributed

immediately upon the effectivity of this Act, with the

implementation to be completed by June 30, 2012; and

(b)

All

remaining

private

agricultural

lands

of

landowners with aggregate landholdings in excess of

© Compiled By RGL

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