Question & AnswerQ&A (EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 129-A)
The main purpose of Executive Order No. 129-A is to reorganize and strengthen the Department of Agrarian Reform to more effectively implement the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
The State declares a policy to abolish all remnants of feudalism and unjust tenurial arrangements, implement CARP, increase productivity of direct producers, strengthen the agricultural base for industrialization, prohibit absentee land ownership, and support owner-cultivated farms and cooperatives, among others.
The Department has powers to acquire, distribute, and develop agricultural lands, issue emancipation patents, provide legal services to beneficiaries, approve or disapprove land conversion, enforce agrarian laws including legal processes like subpoenas, and coordinate with government and NGOs to implement agrarian reform.
The Department consists of the Department Proper (with Office of the Secretary, Undersecretaries, Assistant Secretaries, Public Affairs Staff, Special Concerns Staff, and Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board), staff sectoral bureaus (five bureaus), and field offices including regional, provincial, and municipal agrarian reform offices.
The Department is headed by the Secretary of Agrarian Reform, who has supervision and control over the Department and is appointed by the President of the Philippines.
The Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board is responsible for adjudicating agrarian reform cases under Executive Order No. 229 and Executive Order No. 129-A, and its decisions are immediately executory and may be appealed to Regional Trial Courts.
Municipal Agrarian Reform Offices implement agrarian reform programs at the municipal level, including land acquisition and distribution, leasehold arrangements, conducting information and education programs, promoting beneficiary organizations, providing legal services, coordinating with other agencies, and submitting program reports.
Personnel whose positions are not included in the approved new position structure or who are not reappointed shall be deemed separated from service and entitled to retirement benefits or severance pay equivalent to one month basic salary per year of service, but not exceeding twelve months' salary.
The Executive Order prohibits absentee land ownership as part of the State's policy to establish owner-cultivated, economic, family-size farms and collectives as the foundation of Philippine agriculture.
The Department has exclusive authority to approve or disapprove the conversion, restructuring, or readjustment of agricultural lands into non-agricultural uses.