CHAPTER
1
Coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program
The
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is implemented by Republic Act No. 6657 (1988)
otherwise known as the "Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law". Prior to
its enactment on 10 June 1988, President Corazon C. Aquino issued Proclamation No. 131 (1987)
instituting a comprehensive agrarian reform program, and Executive Order No. 229 (1987)
providing the mechanics for its implementation. RA 6657 took effect on 15 June 1988.
While
expressly repealing specific provisions of prior enactments on agrarian
reform, RA
6657 provides
that the provisions of RA 3844(1963), Presidential Decree No. 27 (1972)
and PD
266 (1973), EO 228 (1987) and EO 229 (1987) and other laws not inconsistent
with it shall have suppletory effect.
RA 6657 was enacted pursuant to the
constitutional mandate enshrined in Section 4, Art. XIII of the 1987 Constitution,
which provides:
SEC.
4. The State shall, by law,
undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right of farmers and
regular farmworkers, who are landless, to own directly or collectively the
lands they till or, in the case of other farmworkers, to receive a just share
of the fruits thereof. To this end, the State shall encourage and undertake the
just distribution of all agricultural lands, subject to such priorities and reasonable
retention limits as the Congress may prescribe, taking into account ecological,
developmental, or equity considerations, and subject to the payment of just
compensation. In determining retention limits, the State shall respect the
right of small landowners. The State shall further provide incentives for
voluntary land-sharing.
The constitutionality of RA 6657 has been upheld in Association of Small Landowners v. Secretary
of Agrarian Reform, 175 SCRA 342 (1989) and companion cases. The Supreme Court
held that the requirement of public use has already been settled by the
Constitution itself. It noted that "[n]o less than the 1987 Charter calls
for agrarian reform which is the reason why private agricultural lands are to
be taken from their owners, subject to the prescribed retention limits."
(at 378)
While RA
6657 itself
has been held constitutional, the Supreme Court in a subsequent case, Luz Farms v. Secretary of Agrarian Reform,
192 SCRA 51 (1990), declared unconstitutional Sec. 3 (b), 10 and 11 thereof
in so far as they include lands devoted to the raising of livestock, swine and
poultry within its coverage. As a result of this ruling, Congress enacted RA 7881 (1995) amending these provisions and
incorporating new provisions to existing ones. The amendments adopted the Luz doctrine by removing livestock, swine
and poultry farms from CARP coverage.
