Scope and Coverage
- Applies to all tenanted coconut lands.
- Includes land retained by landowners and lands not yet distributed under R.A. 6657.
Essential Elements of Tenancy Relationship
- Parties involved: landowner and tenant.
- Consent of landowner (oral or written, express or implied) for tenant to work the land.
- Subject land must be agricultural.
- Purpose must be agricultural production.
- Personal cultivation by the tenant.
- Sharing of harvest or lease payment in a fixed amount (money, produce, or both).
Definition of Cultivation in Coconut Lands
- Includes traditional farming activities: plowing, harrowing.
- Also includes husbanding: care of land and growing crops, fencing, clearing debris.
- For coconut lands, particularly includes periodic cleaning of plantations to enhance productivity.
Security of Tenure Despite Crop or Land Use Changes
- Changing crops or shifting agricultural purposes does not affect tenants' security of tenure.
- Indiscriminate cutting of coconut trees similarly does not compromise tenancy rights.
Lease Rental Determination
- Rent must be an amount certain in money, produce, or both, as agreed by parties.
- DAR may encourage payment in kind to mitigate price fluctuations.
- Average normal harvest of the last three agricultural years or one year before lease established is basis for computing rent.
- Agricultural year defined from land preparation to first harvest, then from harvest to harvest.
Adjustment for Crop Failure Due to Force Majeure
- If crop failure ≥75% certified by Department of Agriculture, rent shall not exceed 25% of average yearly gross harvest (after deductions).
- This reduced rent applies until trees recover and normal harvest is re-established.
- Upon recovery, rent is readjusted accordingly.
Tenant’s Farm and Intercropping Arrangement
- Tenancy covers the whole farm worked by the tenant.
- Parties may agree to plant intercrops between coconut trees.
- Lease rental for intercrops computed per Administrative Order No. 4 series 1989.
- Intercrop rental either part of existing leasehold agreement or separate contract.
Allowable Deductible Items in Rent Computation
- Depends on final product (copra, green nuts, husked nuts).
- For copra: harvesting costs (picking, piling), loading/hauling, processing (husking, splitting, scooping, drying).
- For green nuts: harvesting and loading/hauling costs (processing excluded).
- For husked nuts: harvesting, loading/hauling, and husking costs.
Replanting and Suspension of Leasehold Contract
- Large-scale replanting affecting production may lead to suspension of existing leasehold contract on lessee's request.
- New lease rental computed proportional to production decrease or replanting effect.
Procedures
- Procedures from Administrative Order No. 4-89 apply if not inconsistent with this Order.
Effectivity
- Effective ten days after publication in two national newspapers.
- Supplements Administrative Order No. 4 series 1989.