RPH

• During the pre-Spanish time, land was commonly owned by the community known as barangay, a small unit of government consisting of 30-100 families administered by the chiefs.
• Everyone in the barangay, regardless of status, had access to the land and mutually shared resources and the fruits of their labor.
• The barangay practiced the concept of “stewardship”, where the relationship between man and nature is important.
• Land cultivation during this time was commonly done by the kaingin system or the slash and burn method, where land was cleared by burning the bushes before planting the crops, or either land was plowed and harrowed before planting.
• Food production during this period was intended for family consumption only, and neighboring communities were engaged in a barter trade, exchanging their goods with others.
• Integrating LTI and PBD on a province-to-province basis;
• AJD aims to develop common templates and legal outlines to rationalize the DAR lawyers’ and paralegals’ appreciation and decision on cases.
• AJD aims to improve the capabilities of DAR lawyers and legal officers.
• AJD utilizes information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance legal work.
• The strategic directions for Agrarian Justice Delivery (AJD) under the present DAR governance include speeding up the resolution of AR related cases by putting the legal framework in place to expedite the LAD process and undertaking PBD lawyering to ensure ARBs’ free and informed consent on agribusiness agreements.
• Unlocking credit facilities for the agrarian reform beneficiaries through capacity development for credit providers and farmer-borrowers
• Shifting focus of low-LAD balance provinces to PBD; and
• Some communities even traded their agricultural products with luxury items of foreign traders like Chinese, Arabs, and Europeans.
• The Maragtas Code is the only recorded transaction of land sale during this time, where the natives sold the Panay Island to the ten Bornean datus in exchange for a golden salakot and a long gold necklace.
• The Code of Luwaran, one of the oldest written laws of the Muslim society, contains provision on the lease of cultivated lands, but there was no record how this lease arrangement was practiced.
• During the Spanish Era, the colonial government introduced a pueblo agriculture, a system wherein native rural communities were organized into pueblo and each Christianized native family is given a four (4) to five (5) hectares of land to cultivate.
• The Spanish government awarded vast tracts of land to the Friar lands for the religious orders, Repartimientos for lands granted to the Spanish military as a reward for their service, and Encomienda - large tracts of land given to Spaniards (encomiendero) to manage and have the right to receive tributes from the natives tilling it.
• The hacienda system evolved as a new form of ownership, with more people losing their lands and being forced to become tillers.
• Abusive encomienderos collected more tributes that became the land rentals from the natives living in the area.
• Out of the targeted 300 haciendas for distribution, only 41 were distributed after its 7 years of implementation due to lack of funds and inadequate support services provided for these programs.
• Ramon Magsaysay pursued land reform during his term, passing several legislations to improve the land reform situation, including the Agricultural Tenancy Act, the Free distribution of Resettlement and Rehabilitation and Agricultural land, and the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA).
• Ramon Magsaysay created the Agricultural Tenancy Commission to administer problems arising from tenancy, issuing 28,000 hectares to settlers.
• The Agricultural and Industrial Bank was established under Ramon Magsaysay to provide easier terms in applying for homestead and other farmland.
• This Act abolished share tenancy in the Philippines.
• President Magsaysay pursued the resettlement program through the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA), which established the government’s resettlement program and accelerated the free distribution of agricultural lands to landless tenants and farmers.
• Ramon Magsaysay established the Court of Agricultural Relations in 1955 to improve tenancy security, fix the land rentals on tenanted farms and to resolve the many land disputes filed by the landowners and peasant organizations.
• Landlords continued to be uncooperative and critical to the program, and landownership and tenancy problems continued under Ramon Magsaysay.
• The Agricultural Land Reform Code or RA No. 3844 was enacted on August 8, 1963, considered to be the most comprehensive piece of agrarian reform legislation ever enacted in the Philippines.
• There was no legislation passed in the term of President Diosdado Macapagal but he continued to implement the land reform programs of President Magsaysay.
• The Agricultural Credit and Cooperative Financing Administration (ACCFA) was created under Ramon Magsaysay, a government agency formed to provide warehouse facilities and assist farmers to market their products, and established the organization of the Farmers Cooperatives and Marketing Associations (FACOMAs).
• A compras y vandalas system was practiced wherein tillers were made to compulsory sell at a very low price or surrender their agricultural harvests to Spanish authorities where encomienderos can resell it for a profit.
• There were also issues on inter and intra ARBs conflicts due to arguments for control over negotiations with prospective joint venture partners, some of which became violent.
• The GMA administration has adopted the BAYAN- ANIHAN concept as the implementing framework for CARP.
• To help speed up litigation, DAR also helped set up the agrarian justice fund for farmer beneficiaries as well as DAR field workers who, due to the nature of the job, are named as respondents in cases filed by recalcitrant landowners.
• During this period, DAR launched a series of land occupations by working with farmer claimants, the LGU and government security forces.
• This approach sought to integrate land distribution and support services.
• DAR was able to secure a seat in the annual consultative group meeting between the Philippines’s economic management team and the donor community.
• DAR launched the DAR-DA-DENR convergence initiative during this period.
• Support services took a much more entrepreneurial approach during this administration.
• The department then began aggressively to assert its place in national development planning processes to raise DAR’s profile both in national and international fora.