Agrarian Reform in the

Philippines Timeline
Pre-Spanish
Before the Spaniards arrive, Filipinos believe that
the land is theirs as God gave it to them. Despite the

Period
existence of different social castles, every Filipinos
had access to the fruits of the soil.

Spanish
A system called encomienda was introduced by the
colonizers. This grants encomienderos or the manager of
the land to defend his encomienda from external attack,

Period
maintain peace and order, and support the missionaries.
This system is unfavorable for the natives which were
abused by the encomienderos.

American
When the Americans colonize the Philippines, they
introduced the Torrens system wherein there is a

period
need to register the land. It enables elite people to
own lands which widens the gaps of the social
classes of the people.

Japanese HUKBALAHAP was formed which means Hukbo ng

Bayan Laban sa Hapon, an anti-Japanese group

period
who controlled the whole areas of Central Luzon
during the occupation of the Japanese.

Manuel A. Roxas regulated the sharing agreements

1946-1948
to 70-30 through Republic Act No. 34. He also
enacted Republic Act No. 55 which provided for a
more effective safeguard against arbitrary
ejectment of tenants.

Elpidio Quirino enacted the Executive Order No.

1948-1953
355 which replaced the National Land Settlement
Administration with Land Settlement Development
Corporation or LASEDESCO.

Ramon Magsasay had passed several agrarian

1953-1957
reform laws. One of which is the Republic Act No.
1199 or the Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954 which
governed the relationship between landowners and
tenant farmers by organizing share-tenancy and
leasehold system.

Republic Act No. 3844 or the Agricultural Land Reform

Code which was signed on August 8, 1963 under the

1961-1965
administration of Diosdado Macapagal which abolished
share tenancy, institutionalized leasehold, and a lot more.
It was hailed as one that would emancipate Filipino
farmers from the bondage of tenancy.

Ferdinand E. Marcos proclaimed the entire country

as a land reform area five days after the

1965-1986
proclamation of Martial Law. Under Republic Act
No. 6389 or the Code of Agrarian Reform, the
position of farmers were strengthen and the scope
of agrarian reform was expanded.

Under the presidency of Corazon C. Aquino, the

Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law or Republic

1986-1992
Act No. 6657 became effective on June 15, 1988.
This act promotes social justice and industrialization
providing the mechanism for its implementation and
for other purposes.

Fidel V. Ramos strengthened the implementation of

1992-1998
the CARP and plugged the legal loopholes in land
use conversion. Under Republic Act No. 8532, Ramos
was able to provide an additional PHP 50 billion for
CARP.

Under the current administration of President

Rodrigo Duterte, the Department of Agrarian Reform
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2016-Present
pursues an "Oplan Zero Backlog" in the resolution of
cases in relation to agrarian justice delivery of the
agrarian reform program to fast-track the
implementation of CARP.
BSA1-3_Group 1_Reading in Philippine History Edited By: Aira Atienza