Resource information
This Executive Order has been made in implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP) launched by the Presidential Proclamation No. 131 of 22 July 1987, published in the same Official Gazette, p. 3422-0-1. The basic mechanisms envisaged in the Executive Order to effect the land redistribution programme called for by the CARP are: (a) the registration of all lands coming within the scope of CARP with the Government; (b) the purchase of such lands by the Government from the respective owners, for distribution to landless farmers who till the land; and (c) capital stock sharing, and production sharing, for the benefit of farmworkers on corporate landholdings and large commercial undertakings, respectively. Registration is compulsory, and is required of all owners, lessors, and managers of agricultural land under penalty of forfeiting all room for bargaining as to the determination of the value of the land for the purposes of compensation, should the Government decide to include the land in the redistribution programme. A time frame for compliance with the registration requirements is given, i.e. one hundred and eighty days dating from 27 July 1987. After the registration process has followed its course, and all information and data as to agricultural land, relevant title holders, and tenants and farmers working the land are in, the Government decides whether the land should be redistributed under the CARP. If so, an offer to purchase the land is made, which the landowner can accept or reject.In the latter case, proceedings are provided for in the Executive Order for the determination of just compensation by the Government, subject to final review by the courts. The purchase price of the land is to reflect the owners declaration of fair market value made in the course of registration for CARP purposes. The landowner's assessment, however, is for the Government to appreciate against criteria to be laid down by a special advisory body to the Executive on CARP matters - i.e., the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council. Payment of the purchase price can be effected in various modes, at the option of the landowner, including in particular direct payment in cash or kind by the farmer beneficiaries. Special provisions are made for the disposition of outstanding leases, management contracts, mortgages and other claims on lands subject to redistribution. One salient feature of the land redistribution programme is that the farmer-beneficiaries of the programme are to pay the Government for the land they receive from it. Payment is to be effected in thirty equal annual payments at six percent annual interest. Ownership, however, is transferred at the time of designation of the awardees of given land parcels. Throughout the duration of the repayment period, the Government - acting through the Land Bank of the Philippines - has a lien by way of a mortgage on the land, which mortgage can be foreclosed when the beneficiaries fall in arrears with three payments - i.e., when the outstanding principal balance unpaid reaches the equivalent of three annual amortizations.Programme beneficiaries are eligible for credit support measures aimed at assisting them through the first crop cycle. Voluntary land transfers from landowners to eligible beneficiaries under the CARP are also contemplated. They are subject to control by the Government, and the relevant agreements are binding and irrevocable for both parties. Special mechanisms are provided to give farmers who work for corporate landowners or for large commercial undertakings, an opportunity to share in the fruits of their labour over and above the wages they are entitled to. In the former case, the initiative lies with corporate landowners, who may, if they wish, offer part of their capital stock for purchase by their farmworkers. Large commercial undertakings as defined in the Executive Order - i.e., those grossing sales in excess of a given threshold amount - are instead under an obligation to distribute to their farmworkers no less than 2.5 percent of gross sales over and above the wages they are entitled to. The Executive Order by and large concerns productive agricultural lands held in the private domain of individuals, corporations, and government entities. However, lands in the public domain also come within the scope of CARP, but in that case redistribution for CARP purposes is done by another government department than that designated to operate the land redistribution programme. In point of policy, the Order states that idle or abandoned land will be expropriated.It is up to the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council to devise programmes for the implememtation of the policy. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) at the national level, and the Barangay Agrarian Reform Council (BARC) at the local level, are competent to administer the mechanisms envisaged in the Executive Order. The DAR functions in an executive and quasi-judicial capacity, whereas the PARC is an advisory body of appointed members. The BARCs' foremost functions appear to be quasi-judicial. In the case of lands in the public domain, the administration of the land redistribution programme is the responsibility of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, but DAR assists in the designation of beneficiaries.
