June 14, 2007

DOJ DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR NO. 23-07

SUBJECT : Guidelines in the Preliminary

Investigation of Criminal Cases
Related to Agrarian Reform

In the interest of the appropriate and expeditious administration of justice in

agrarian reform cases, and in line with the creation of the National Task Force on
Agrarian Cases (NTFAC) under Department Order No. 692 dated 05 September 2006,
the following Rule on the handling of agrarian reform cases, to be known as
theGuidelines in the Investigation of Criminal Cases Related to Agrarian Reform, is
hereby adopted. aAEHCI

SECTION 1. Prefatory Statement. — It has been observed that there is an

increasing number of criminal cases being filed by landowners/former landowners or
their agents/representatives against actual or potential farmer-beneficiaries of the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), and/or members of their
immediate farm households and/or their farmworkers, as well as against personnel
of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) who are involved in, or are supporting, the implementation of CARP. It has
likewise been observed that CARP farmer-beneficiaries have also resorted to filing
criminal cases against former landowners for violating the CARP Law (R.A. 6657),
particularly the provision (in paragraph d of Section 73 — Prohibited Acts and
Omissions) that penalizes their "willful prevention or obstruction . . . of the
implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)". EcHIDT

Many of these cases actually arise from, or are rooted in, dispute over the
implementation of the CARP and, therefore, belong to the jurisdiction of either the
Special Agrarian Courts (SAC), or the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication
Board (DARAB), or the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) itself, rather than to
the regular courts. ATcaID

The determination of whether there is probable cause that warrants the filing
of a criminal case in court against the respondents, or whether the complaint should
be dismissed because it is not a criminal case at all but is simply an agrarian dispute
and, therefore, does not fall within the jurisdiction of the regular courts, rests with
the Prosecutor handling the preliminary investigation of the complaint.
 It is to assist the concerned Prosecutor in making this determination correctly
that this Guidelines is being issued.
SECTION 2. Definition of Terms. — As used in this Guidelines, the
following terms are defined as shown: ATHCDa

a. Agrarian Dispute — refers to any controversy relating to tenurial

arrangements, whether leasehold, tenancy, stewardship or otherwise,
over lands devoted to agriculture, including disputes concerning
farmworkers' associations or representation of persons in negotiating,
fixing, maintaining, changing or seeking to arrange terms or
conditions of such tenurial arrangements. It includes any controversy
relating to compensation of lands acquired under this Act and other
terms and conditions of transfer of ownership from landowners to
farmworkers, tenants and other agrarian reform beneficiaries,
whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of farm
operator and beneficiary, landowner and tenant, or lessor and lessee
(R.A. 6657, Section 3-d). HTcDEa

As used in this Guidelines, the term also includes disputes over the
interpretation of agrarian reform laws, rules and regulations, including
those pertaining to the rights and obligations of agrarian reform
beneficiaries and landowners/former landowners.
b. Agricultural Leasehold Contract — A formal tenurial
arrangement reduced into writing between a lessor-landholder and
lessee-farmer where the former consents to the latter's cultivation in
consideration for fixed rental either in money or produce or both.
c. Agricultural Leasehold Relation — It is limited to the person who
furnishes the landholding, either as owner, civil law lessee,
usufructuary, or legal possessor, and the person who personally
cultivates the same (R.A. No. 3844, Sec. 166 [2]).
d. Agricultural Lessee — A person who, by himself and with the aid
available from within his immediate farm household, cultivates the
land belonging to, or possessed by another, with the latter's consent
for purposes of production, for a price certain in money or in produce
or both. It is distinguished from civil lessee as understood in the Civil
Code of the Philippines. (R.A. No. 3844, Sec. 166 [2]). TDESCa

e. Agricultural Lessor — A person, natural or juridical, who either as

owner, civil law lessee, usufructuary, or legal possessor, lets or grant to
another the cultivation and use of his land for a certain price. (R.A. No.
3844, Sec. 166 [3]).
 f. Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries or Farmer-
Beneficiaries — Actualagrarian reform or farmer-beneficiaries of the
agrarian reform program are those which have been rewarded either
Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) under the CARP (R.A.
6657) or Emancipation Patents (EPs) under Operation Land Transfer
(P.D. 27), or have been confirmed as tenants orleaseholders by the
DAR or the DARAB. Potential agrarian reform or farmer-beneficiaries
of the agrarian reform program are those who are eligible to be
awarded CLOAs or EPs, and recognized as such by the DAR, but are
still awaiting their actual award; also those who are eligible to be
tenants or leaseholders, and are so recognized by the DAR, but are still
awaiting their confirmation as such by the DAR or the DARAB.
g. Farmworker — is a natural person who renders services for value
as an employee or laborer in an agricultural enterprise of farm,
regardless of whether his compensation is paid on a daily, weekly,
monthly or"pakyaw" basis. The term includes an individual whose
work has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, a pending
agrarian dispute and who has not obtained a substantially equivalent
and regular farm employment (R.A. 6657, Section 3-g). SETaHC

As used in this Guidelines, the term also includes the following:

1) Regular Farmworker — a natural person who is employed
on a permanent basis by an agricultural enterprise or farm (R.A.
6657, Section 3-h).
2) Seasonal Farmworker — a natural person who is employed
on a recurrent, periodic or intermittent basis by an agricultural
enterprise or farm, whether as a permanent or non-permanent
laborer, such as "dumaan", "sacada",and the like (R.A. 6657,
Section 3-i).
3) Other Farmworker— a farmworker who does not fall under
any of the foregoing categories (R.A. 6657, Section 3-j).
h. Immediate Farm Household — includes the members of the
family of the tenant, and such other person or persons, whether
related to the tenant or not, who are dependent upon him for support
and who usually help him operate the farm enterprise. (R.A. 1199,
Section 5-o).
SECTION 3. Scope. — This Guidelines shall apply to criminal cases filed by
landowners/former landowners and/or their agents/representatives against actual or
potential agrarian reform beneficiaries, tenant-farmers, farmworkers, and/or
members of their immediate farm households, as well as against personnel of the
Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and of non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), provided that the latter are impleaded as co-respondents of either the
agrarian reform beneficiaries or the DAR personnel, where the factual circumstances
alleged to justify the criminal charge indicate that said circumstances are rooted in,
or may be traced to, an agrarian dispute.
This Guidelines also covers criminal cases filed by CARP beneficiaries or DAR
personnel or NGOs against landowners/former landowners, given the same condition
as above regarding the relationship of the cases to an agrarian dispute.
SECTION 4. Operating Guidelines. — When a complaint for a felony or a
criminal offense is filed before the Office of the City or Provincial Prosecutor, the
Chief of Office or its duly authorized representative shall assign the case for inquest
or preliminary investigation to the NTFAC member, if he has reason to believe that
the complaint arises from an agrarian dispute or if any of the following elements are
present:
1) The case involves a landowner/former landowner and actual or
potential agrarian reform beneficiaries or tenant farmers and/or
lessees or farmworkers and/or their immediate families, or DAR
personnel, or NGO personnel who are involved in or supporting the
implementation of CARP, whose names appear in a list provided by
the Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer (PARO). Absent said list, the
Prosecutor must request the PARO to certify whether or not the
parties involved in the complaint (both the plaintiff and the
respondents) belong to any of these categories. (The PARO, in turn,
will ask the concerned MARO to provide the requested certification or,
if the MARO is unable to provide it for any reason, will issue the
certification himself, based on the investigation of the DAR Provincial
Legal Officer).
2) The case involves an alleged crime that took place in or about an
agricultural landholding.
3) The case filed is either estafa, theft, qualified theft, trespass,
grave coercion, arson, grave threat, malicious mischief, robbery with
force upon things or violence or intimidation of persons, or violations
of Section 73 of the CARP Law (R.A. 6657).
4) Other pertinent records of DAR and other government offices
that provide sufficient indicator that the complaint arises from an
agrarian dispute.
a. If after considering the above-listed elements, the
investigating prosecutor is still in doubt as to whether a
complaint is rooted in, or arises out of, an agrarian dispute,
he/she shall ask the DAR Provincial Office (DARPO) to
comment on the complaint. The DARPO should submit its
comments on the complaint within 15 days from the date the
request was received from the investigating prosecutor. If the
DARPO fails to do so, the investigating prosecutor will conclude
his/her investigation on the basis of any information he/she
may have on hand after the 15-day deadline expires.
b. If after the conduct of the preliminary investigation, the
investigating prosecutor finds sufficient basis to believe that
the offense charged is an agrarian dispute or arises out of an
agrarian dispute based on the above enumerated elements
and/or the comments of the DARPO, the investigating
prosecutor shall immediately return the subject case to the
Chief of Office with advise that the said case be re-assigned to
the NTFAC member for appropriate action (that is, if the
investigating prosecutor is not a NTFAC member
himself/herself). If there is no such prosecutor designated as
NTFAC member in the said prosecution office, the case shall be
referred to the Office of the Regional State Prosecutor (RSP)
which has jurisdiction over the Provincial/City Prosecution
Office. The RSP shall have the authority to act on the case by
himself/herself or designate any Prosecutor within the region
who is a NTFAC member to conduct such investigation.
c. If the NTFAC member determines that the complaint is
rooted or could be traced to a dispute over the implementation
of the agrarian reform program, he/she shall immediately
dismiss the complaint for lack of probable cause and/or lack of
jurisdiction of the regular courts.
d. On the other hand, if the NTFAC member finds that the
case is not rooted in agrarian dispute and/or finds probable
cause of the offense charged, he/she will resolve the case with
dispatch and immediately release his/her resolution to the
parties concerned.
e. However, the corresponding Information shall be filed by
the Prosecutor only after the lapse of the period to file a motion
 for reconsideration or re-investigation, to give the respondents
reasonable time to file such motion.
SECTION 5. Re-investigation of Cases. — When a petition for re-
investigation is filed on the basis that the case involves either actual or potential
agrarian reform beneficiaries, tenant-farmers, farmworkers or their immediate farm
household members, and landowners/former landowners or their
agent/representatives, and that the complaint is rooted in or could be traced to a
dispute over the implementation of the agrarian reform program, the trial prosecutor
shall interpose no objection to a Motion for Re-investigation, and upon the grant of
said Motion, should immediately refer it to the NTFAC-designated Prosecutor for
disposition, as provided in the preceding section.
SECTION 6. Appeal from Resolution of NTFAC-Designated Prosecutors. —
Resolutions of NTFAC-designated Prosecutors are appealable only to the Secretary
of Justice. Appeals from such resolutions should be filed in accordance with the 2000
Rule of Appealissued under DOJ Circular No. 69 dated 03 July 2000.
SECTION 7. Effectivity. — This Circular shall take effect immediately.

(SGD.) ERNESTO L. PINEDA

Undersecretary
Officer-in-Charge