Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 6657)
Republic Act No. 6657 is known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988.
The main objective of CARP is to promote social justice and industrialization by redistributing agricultural lands to landless farmers and farmworkers, establishing owner cultivatorship of economic-size farms as the basis of Philippine agriculture.
Qualified beneficiaries include landless agricultural lessees and share tenants, regular farmworkers, seasonal farmworkers, other farmworkers, actual tillers or occupants of public lands, and collectives or cooperatives of these beneficiaries.
No person may own or retain more than five (5) hectares of agricultural land, except under provisions for children of landowners who may be awarded up to three (3) hectares each under certain qualifications.
The priorities are: Phase One - rice and corn lands under P.D. No. 27, idle/abandoned lands, foreclosed lands, lands acquired by PCGG, and government-owned agricultural lands; Phase Two - alienable and disposable public agricultural lands and private lands over 50 hectares; Phase Three - other private agricultural lands starting with large landholdings over 24 hectares down to smaller holdings.
Yes, landowners may voluntarily transfer ownership of their lands to qualified beneficiaries within the first year of CARP implementation. The terms must not be less favorable than government standing offers, must be recorded, and are monitored by the DAR.
Violators may face imprisonment from one (1) month to three (3) years, fines between P1,000 and P15,000, or both. In the case of corporations, responsible officers shall be criminally liable.
Compensation can be in cash, government financial instruments, shares of stock in government corporations, tax credits, or LBP bonds which are negotiable and transferable. Cash payments differ based on the size of the landholding, and just compensation is determined by various valuation criteria.
DAR has primary jurisdiction and exclusive original jurisdiction over agrarian reform matters, can hear and decide cases expeditiously without strict adherence to technical rules, summon witnesses, administer oaths, and enforce its writs.
PARC is responsible for formulating the schedule and program for land acquisition and distribution, issuing guidelines, providing policies on support services and incentives, and overseeing the comprehensive agrarian reform program implementation.