Article 99Labor and Agrarian Laws and Social Legislation, p. 99

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

transfer of their lands to qualified beneficiaries subject to

the following guidelines:

(a) All notices for voluntary land transfer must be

submitted

to

the

DAR

within the first year of the

implementation of the CARP. Negotiations between the

landowners

and

qualified

beneficiaries

covering any

voluntary land transfer which remain unresolved after

one (1) year shall not be recognized and such land shall

instead be acquired by the government and transferred

pursuant to this Act.

(b) The terms and conditions of such transfer shall not

be less favorable to the transferee than those of the

government's

standing

offer

to

purchase

from

the

landowner and to resell to the beneficiaries, if such offers

have been made and are fully known to both parties.

(c) The voluntary agreement shall include sanctions

for non-compliance by either party and shall be duly

recorded and its implementation monitored by the DAR.

Section

21.

Payment

of

Compensation

by

Beneficiaries Under Voluntary Land Transfer . — Direct

payments

in

cash

or

in

kind

may

be

by

the

farmer-beneficiary to the landowner under terms to be

mutually agreed upon by both parties, which shall be

binding upon them, upon registration with the approval

by the DAR. Said approval shall be considered given,

unless

notice

of

disapproval

is

received

by

the

farmer-beneficiary within thirty (30) days from the date of

registration.

In the event they cannot agree on the price of land,

the procedure for compulsory acquisition as provided in

Section 16 shall apply. The LBP shall extend financing to

the beneficiaries for purposes of acquiring the land.

CHAPTER VII Land Redistribution

Section 22. Qualified Beneficiaries . — The lands

covered by the CARP shall be distributed as much as

possible to landless residents of the same barangay, or in

the absence thereof, landless residents of the same

municipality in the following order of priority:

(a) agricultural lessees and share tenants;

(b) regular farmworkers;

(c) seasonal farmworkers;

(d) other farmworkers;

(e) actual tillers or occupants of public lands;

(f)

collectives

or

cooperatives

of

the

above

beneficiaries; and

(g) others directly working on the land.

Provided, however, that the children of landowners

who are qualified under Section 6 of this Act shall be

given preference in the distribution of the land of their

parents: and provided, further, that actual tenant-tillers in

the

landholdings

shall

not

be

ejected

or

removed

therefrom.

Beneficiaries under Presidential Decree No. 27 who

have culpably sold, disposed of, or abandoned their land

are

disqualified

to

become

beneficiaries

under

this

Program.

A basic qualification of a beneficiary shall be his

willingness, aptitude, and ability to cultivate and make

the land as productive as possible. The DAR shall adopt a

system of monitoring the record or performance of each

beneficiary, so that any beneficiary guilty of negligence or

misuse of the land or any support extended to him shall

forfeit his right to continue as such beneficiary. The DAR

shall submit periodic reports on the performance of the

beneficiaries to the PARC.

If, due to the landowner's retention rights or to the

number of tenants, lessees, or workers on the land, there

is not enough land to accommodate any or some of

them, they may be granted ownership of other lands

available for distribution under this Act, at the option of

the beneficiaries.

Farmers

already

in

place

and

those

not

accommodated in the distribution of privately-owned

lands will be given preferential rights in the distribution of

lands from the public domain.

Section 22-A. Order of Priority . - A landholding of a

landowner

shall

be

distributed

first

to

qualified

beneficiaries under Section 22, subparagraphs (a) and (b)

of that same landholding up to a maximum of three (3)

hectares each. Only when these beneficiaries have all

received three (3) hectares each, shall the remaining

portion of the landholding, if any, be distributed to other

beneficiaries under Section 22, subparagraphs (c), (d), (e),

(f), and (g).

Section

23.

Distribution

Limit .

—

No

qualified

beneficiary may own more than three (3) hectares of

agricultural land.

Section 24. Award to Beneficiaries . — The rights

and responsibilities of the beneficiaries shall commence

from their receipt of a duly registered emancipation

patent or certificate of land ownership award and their

actual physical possession of the awarded land. Such

award shall be completed in not more than one hundred

eighty (180) days from the date of registration of the title

in the name of the Republic of the Philippines: Provided ,

That the emancipation patents, the certificates of land

ownership award, and other titles issued under any

agrarian

reform

program

shall

be

indefeasible

and

imprescriptible after one (1) year from its registration with

the Office of the Registry of Deeds, subject to the

conditions, limitations and qualifications of this Act, the

property registration decree, and other pertinent laws.

The emancipation patents or the certificates of land

ownership

award

being

titles

brought

under

the

operation of the torrens system, are conferred with the

same indefeasibility and security afforded to all titles

under the said system, as provided for by Presidential

Decree No. 1529, as amended by Republic Act No. 6732.

It is the ministerial duty of the Registry of Deeds to

register the title of the land in the name of the Republic

of the Philippines, after the Land Bank of the Philippines

(LBP) has certified that the necessary deposit in the

name of the landowner constituting full payment in cash

or in bond with due notice to the landowner and the

registration of the certificate of land ownership award

issued to the beneficiaries, and to cancel previous titles

pertaining thereto.

Identified and qualified agrarian reform beneficiaries,

based

on

Section

22

of Republic Act No. 6657, as,

amended,

shall

have

usufructuary

rights

over

the

awarded land as soon as the DAR takes possession of

such land, and such right shall not be diminished even

pending the awarding of the emancipation patent or the

certificate of land ownership award.

All cases involving the cancellation of registered

emancipation

patents, certificates of land ownership

award, and other titles issued under any agrarian reform

program are within the exclusive and original jurisdiction

of the Secretary of the DAR.

Section 25. Award Ceilings for Beneficiaries . —

Beneficiaries shall be awarded an area not exceeding

three (3) hectares, which may cover a contiguous tract of

land or several parcels of land cumulated up to the

prescribed award limits. The determination of the size of

the land for distribution shall consider crop type, ,soil

type, weather patterns and other pertinent variables or

factors which are deemed critical for the success of the

beneficiaries.

For purposes of this Act, a landless beneficiary is one

who owns less than three (3) hectares of agricultural land.

Whenever appropriate, the DAR shall encourage the

agrarian reform beneficiaries to form or join farmers'

cooperatives

for

purposes of affiliating with existing

cooperative

banks

in

their

respective

provinces

or

localities, as well as forming blocs of agrarian reform

beneficiaries, corporations, and partnerships and joining

other

farmers'

collective

organizations,

including

irrigators' associations: Provided, That the agrarian reform

beneficiaries shall be assured of corresponding shares in

the corporation, seats in the board of directors, and an

equitable share in the profit.

In general, the land awarded to a farmer- beneficiary

should be in the form of an individual title, covering one

(1) contiguous tract or several parcels of land cumulated

up to a maximum of three (3) hectares.

The beneficiaries may opt for collective ownership,

such as co-workers or farmers cooperative or some other

form of collective organization and for the issuance of

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