agrarian

• Agrarian Reform


  The rectification of the whole system of agriculture
• Agrarian Reform


  • Important aspect in Economy: Half of the population is employed in agricultural sector and most citizens live in rural areas

  Center on relationship between production & distribution of land among farmers

  Focus on political and economic class character the relations of production and distribution in farming and related enterprises, and how these connect to wider structure
• The Philippines gain agricultural potential and uplift Filipinos in the agricultural sector who suffer poverty and discontent
• Pueblo Agriculture


  Rural communities, often dispersed & scattered in nature, were organized into a pueblo and given land to cultivate
• Land ownership under Spain

  • Religious Orders
  • Repartamientos for Spanish Military as reward of service
  • Spanish Encomenderos, mandated to manage encomienda or land given, Filipinos worked and paid tribute
• Compras y vandalas


  Norm of Filipino working the land: Sell products at a very low price or surrender products to encomenderos, who resold this at profit
• Filipinos were required to render services unrelated to farming
• Encomienda system developed


  Hacienda system in 19th century for Spain to fast track colony to capitalist world
• Philippines, an exporter of raw materials and importer of goods
• Hacienda system


  New form of ownership
• Before Filipinos had communal ownership of land
• Spaniards became a bitter and source of hatred and discontent for the Filipinos
• Religious orders: the biggest landowners in the Philippines and main source of abuse and exploitation for the Filipinos, increasing the rent paid by the Filipinos on a whim
• Filipinos fought in a confluence of motivations, but the greatest desire for freedom would be necessity of owning land
• Upon the end of Philippine Revolution, all large islands estates esp. the confiscated friar islands declared as government property
• The Philippine first republic was short-lived, as Americans would signal a new era of colonialism and imperialism in the Philippines
• The Philippine Bill of 1902


  Regulations on disposal of public islands

  Private Individual: 16 hectares

  Corporate landholders: 1,024 hectares

  Americans were given to own agricultural lands in the country
• Act No. 496: The Land Registration


  Enacted by Philippine Commission

  Torrens System: Address absence of earlier records issued land titles and conduct accurate land surveys
• Homestead Program (1903)


  Allowing a tenant to enter agricultural business by acquiring at least 16 hectares

  Limited to areas in Northern Luzon & Mindanao where colonial penetration had been difficult like Spaniards
• No improvement to landownership and it even worsened: No size limit of landholdings & accessibility of possession was limited to those who could afford to buy, register, and acquire fixed property titles
• Not all friar lands were given to landless peasants farmers
• Some lands were sold and leased to Americans and Filipino business interest
• Early land reform program had no support mechanism
• Many were forced to tenancy, and Filipino hacienderos purchased or forcefully took over lands from farmers who could not afford to pay their debts
• Their system enabled more lands to be placed under tenancy which led to Colorum and Sakdal Uprising in Luzon. Peasants and workers found refuge from millenarian movements through militancy
• Sakdal (Sakdalista) Uprising


  A peasant rebellion in Luzon, May 2-3, 1935 for two days

  Historical event tells social inequality because of land ownership and tenancy in the country

  Sakdal means "to accuse", the title of newspaper helmed by Benigno Ramos
• He rallied from Manila and nearby provinces thru publication which led establishment of Partido Sakdalista in 1933
• Demands of Sakdal (Sakdalista) Uprising

  • Abolition of taxes
  • Equal or common ownership of land
  • Opposed the dominant Nacionalista Party's acceptance of gradual independence from U.S instead demanded immediate severance of ties with America
• General Election (1934), scored three seats in the House of Representatives and several local posts
• Crushed by government, Ramos fled to Tokyo and the Partido Sakdalista collapsed
• Peasant uprisings increased and landlord-tenant relationship became disparate
• President Quezon


  Focus on social injustices, purchase haciendas, divide and sold to tenants
• National Rice and Corn Corporation (NARIC)


  Assign public defenders to assist peasants in court battles for their rights to the land, and the Court of Industrial Relations to exercise jurisdiction over disagreements
• The homestead program continued through National Land Settlement Administration (NLSA)
• Efforts in Agrarian reform under Commonwealth failed because of budget allocation for the settlement program and widespread peasant uprisings
• Japanese put a halt to all interventions as they occupied the country
• R.A No. 34


  Establish 70-30 sharing arrangement between tenant and landlord which reduced the interest of landowners' loans to tenants at six percent or less
• Attempted to redistribute hacienda lands, but no support was given to small farmers who were given lands
• Land Settlement Development Corporation (LASEDECO)

  Established to accelerate and expand the resettlement program for peasants, and turned to National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) under President Ramon Magsaysay
• Republic Act No. 1199 or Agricultural Tenancy Act


  To govern relationship between landholders and tenant farmers, protecting the tenurial rights of tenants and enforced tenancy practices. Through this law, THE COURT OF AGRICULTURAL RELATIONS was created in 1955 to improve tenancy security, fix lands rentals of tenanted farms , resolved land disputes filed by the landowners and peasant organizations