Reorganization of Dept. of Local Government

The government policy is to equalize the rights and obligations of landowners/agricultural lessors and agricultural lessees.
Payment of leasehold rentals is required to support expeditious land reform implementation.
Deliberate refusal to pay rentals is treated as resistance to the government’s land reform program and goals.

The decree applies to any agricultural lessee of a rice or corn land under Presidential Decree No. 27.
The decree covers situations where the lessee deliberately refuses and/or continues to refuse to pay leasehold rentals and/or amortization payments when they fall due.
The consequences differ depending on whether the landholding is already covered by a Certificate of Land Transfer.

Section 1 prohibits and prevents the continuing and deliberate refusal of agricultural lessees to pay leasehold rentals to landowners/agricultural lessors.
Section 2 ties liability to a deliberate refusal to pay rentals or amortization payments that fall due.
Section 3 ties liability to continued non-payment of lease rentals or amortization payments when they fall due where no Certificate of Land Transfer has yet been issued.

Section 2 applies when an agricultural lessee deliberately refuses and/or continues to refuse to pay rentals or amortization payments for a period of two (2) years.
Section 3 applies when an agricultural lessee continues not to pay lease rentals or amortization payments for a period of two (2) years.
The penalties in Sections 2 and 3 apply upon hearing and judgment and require final judgment in the forfeiture case.

Section 2 provides that if the agricultural lessee’s farmholding is already covered by a Certificate of Land Transfer, a deliberate refusal for two (2) years results in forfeiture upon hearing and final judgment.
The forfeiture includes (a) the Certificate of Land Transfer issued in the lessee’s favor and (b) the farmholding itself.

Section 3 provides that if the agricultural lessee’s landholding is not yet covered by a Certificate of Land Transfer, continued non-payment for two (2) years results in loss of the right to be issued a Certificate of Land Transfer.
Section 3 further provides that the lessee also loses the farmholding upon proper hearing and judgment.

Section 4 requires that landholdings subject of forfeiture be turned over to the Samahang Nayon with which the agricultural lessee is affiliated.
Section 4 requires assignment to qualified member or members whose landholding/s are of uneconomic size.
Section 4 directs that assignments follow the policies laid down by the Department of Agrarian Reform.

Section 5 makes actions for violation of Section 2 and Section 3 cognizable by the Court of Agrarian Relations.
Section 5 vests the Court of Agrarian Relations with original and exclusive jurisdiction to try and decide such cases.

Section 6 repeals or modifies existing laws, orders, decrees, and rules and regulations that are inconsistent with the decree.
Section 7 provides the decree’s immediate effectivity upon approval.