The
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is implemented by Republic Act No. 6657 (1988) otherwise
known as the "Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law". Prior to its
enactment on 10 June 1988, President Corazon C. Aquino issued Proclamation No. 131 (1987) instituting a
comprehensive agrarian reform program, and Executive Order No. 229 (1987) providing
the mechanics for its implementation. RA 6657 took effect on 15 June 1988.
While
expressly repealing specific provisions of prior enactments on agrarian
reform, RA 6657 provides that
the provisions of RA 3844(1963), Presidential Decree No. 27 (1972)
and PD 266 (1973), EO 228 (1987) and EO 229 (1987) and other laws not
inconsistent with it shall have suppletory effect.
RA 6657 was enacted pursuant to the
constitutional mandate enshrined in Section 4, Art. XIII of the 1987 Constitution, which provides:
SEC.
4. The State shall, by law,
undertake an agrarian reform program founded on the right of farmers and
regular farmworkers, who are landless, to own directly or collectively the
lands they till or, in the case of other farmworkers, to receive a just share
of the fruits thereof. To this end, the State shall encourage and undertake the
just distribution of all agricultural lands, subject to such priorities and
reasonable retention limits as the Congress may prescribe, taking into account
ecological, developmental, or equity considerations, and subject to the payment
of just compensation. In determining retention limits, the State shall respect
the right of small landowners. The State shall further provide incentives for
voluntary land-sharing.
The constitutionality of RA 6657 has been
upheld in Association of Small Landowners v.
Secretary of Agrarian Reform, 175 SCRA 342 (1989) and companion cases. The Supreme
Court held that the requirement of public use has already been settled by the
Constitution itself. It noted that "[n]o less than the 1987 Charter calls
for agrarian reform which is the reason why private agricultural lands are to
be taken from their owners, subject to the prescribed retention limits."
(at 378)
While RA 6657 itself has
been held constitutional, the Supreme Court in a subsequent case, Luz Farms v. Secretary of Agrarian Reform, 192 SCRA 51 (1990),
declared unconstitutional Sec. 3 (b), 10 and 11 thereof in so far as they
include lands devoted to the raising of livestock, swine and poultry within its
coverage. As a result of this ruling, Congress enacted RA 7881 (1995) amending these provisions
and incorporating new provisions to existing ones. The amendments adopted
the Luz doctrine by
removing livestock, swine and poultry farms from CARP coverage.
