Agrarian Law and Social Justice CLASS NOTES under Atty.

Valle

June 30, 2018 Lecture (PARC is Presidential Agrarian Reform Council)

-All laws must be in consonance with the Constitution otherwise its legality will be challenged.
-The CARL is mandated by the Constitution
-DAR (Department of Agrarian Reform) is an agency created to implement the ARP which has jurisdiction
of disputes. (The DAR is in Urdaneta). Regular courts have no jurisdiction
-Rights of the landowners are most affected.
-Before the retention is 7 hectares then it was reduced to 5 hectares, however, even upon the enactment of
CARP 7 hectares is entitled if covered…..before?
-Rights of Landowner
1. Right to property
2. X Deprivation
3. Due process and equal protection of the laws
4. Right to just compensation
5. Protection against undue delegation of legislative power
6. Right to information
Example-the right to be notified of what they will do with their lot.
Notices must be sent.
Social Justice-justice must always be served for the rich and the poor alike. (should not only serve tenants
but landowners as well)

Not to favor the poor because he is poor or reject the rich because he is rich.

Landbank created by government to pay landowners just compensation

-Tenants cannot “pirenda” their rights to another
Right to life, liberty and property under the Constitution
o Right to life and liberty is a preferred position but does not say that…..
o Right to property is basic and related to life
Right to property has an intimate relationship between life and liberty…?

“You take my life when you take the means of my life”

Property is an important instrument in the preservation and enhancement of personal dignity.

Ex. Si Carlos, amay may ari ng 10 hectares.
Due Process of Law-a law that hears before it condemns, proceeds upon inquiry and renders judgment
only after trial.
______can’t be arbitrarily taken

Due process in judicial proceedings (or taking of property

 Agrarian Law and Social Justice CLASS NOTES under Atty. Valle

1. There must be a court clothed with judicial power to hear and determine the cases
2. Jurisdiction must be acquired over the person or property which is the subject matter of the litigation
(To acquire jurisdiction over a person who is abroad, it must be summons by newspaper
publication)
3. The defendant must be given the opportunity to be heard and present evidence on his behalf.
4. Judgment must be rendered with a lawful hearing/trial.
*Judicial proceeding can be administrative proceeding –need substantial evidence-"more than a mere
scintilla. It means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a
conclusion." Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401 (1971).
-decision must have something to support it.

Art 3 , Sec 1: No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor
shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.
Equal protection- “all persons subject to legislation should be treated alike, under like
circumstances and conditions, both in the privileges conferred and liabilities
imposed.

-mandates that all similarly situated must be treated alike.

Ex. Valuation of nearing rice lands must be the same

The guarantee does not require that persons or things different in fact be treated in law as though they
were the same. What it prohibits is class legislation which discriminates against some and favors others
when both are similarly situated or circumstanced.

Where there are reasonable grounds for so doing, persons or their properties may be grouped into classes
to each of which special legal rights o liabilities may be attached.

What is the extent and limitation of the Agrarian Reform Program mandated by the Constitution in relation
to the landowners and beneficiaries?
Art 8 Sec 4-8 –must be in accord with the constitution particularly the Bill of Rights. *(favorite in Political Law)

REMEMBER THIS AS PER ATTY VALLE: ARTICLE XIII

AGRARIAN AND NATURAL RESOURCES REFORM

Section 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
 Agrarian Law and Social Justice CLASS NOTES under Atty. Valle

determining retention limits, the State shall respect the right of small landowners. The State shall further provide
incentives for voluntary land-sharing.

Section 5. The State shall recognize the right of farmers, farmworkers, and landowners, as well as cooperatives, and
other independent farmers’ organizations to participate in the planning, organization, and management of the program,
and shall provide support to agriculture through appropriate technology and research, and adequate financial,
production, marketing, and other support services.

Section 6. The State shall apply the principles of agrarian reform or stewardship, whenever applicable in accordance
with law, in the disposition or utilization of other natural resources, including lands of the public domain under lease
or concession suitable to agriculture, subject to prior rights, homestead rights of small settlers, and the rights of
indigenous communities to their ancestral lands.

The State may resettle landless farmers and farmworkers in its own agricultural estates which shall be distributed to
them in the manner provided by law.

Section 7. The State shall protect the rights of subsistence fishermen, especially of local communities, to the
preferential use of the communal marine and fishing resources, both inland and offshore. It shall provide support to
such fishermen through appropriate technology and research, adequate financial, production, and marketing
assistance, and other services. The State shall also protect, develop, and conserve such resources. The protection shall
extend to offshore fishing grounds of subsistence fishermen against foreign intrusion. Fish workers shall receive a just
share from their labor in the utilization of marine and fishing resources.

Section 8. The State shall provide incentives to landowners to invest the proceeds of the agrarian reform program to
promote industrialization, employment creation, and privatization of public sector enterprises. Financial instruments
used as payment for their lands shall be honored as equity in enterprises of their choice.

Will ask in the quiz as per Attty. Valle:

What are the provisions of Agrarian Reform in the Constitution. -> ARTICLE XIII

Sec 4-8

Art. 3 Section 9. Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation

Where would you go if you have a question with the just compensation?
Answer: RTC Lingayen, designation Agrarian and NOT DAREB (Department of Agrarian Reform
Board)

Can a corporation acquire agricultural lands?

What constitutes eminent domain for valid use of public land.

1. For public use
2. Just Compensation-shall be determined by the proper court based on the fair market value
3. Observance of due process of law in the taking->Got this from de Leon book. Procedural due
process requires that the owner shall have due notice and hearing in the expropriation proceeding,

Art 3 Sec 4???

ASSIGNMENT:
 Agrarian Law and Social Justice CLASS NOTES under Atty. Valle

1. Who are the beneficiaries?

2. Who are the lawful farmers?
3. Elements of beneficiaries?
4. Agrarian Dispute; what constitutes and agrarian dispute?
5. Who is the tenant; beneficiary?
6. Be able to know the case Luz Farms v Secretary of Agrarian Reform 192 SCRA 51
7. Agrarian Reform
8. Agricultural Activity
9. What was the basis of the S.C. in ruling the poultry, swine, livestock…? Are not covered the
CARP?
10. Is the definition of agricultural land always the same?
11. How do determine tenancy relationship?

Morta vs Occidental et al June 10, 1999 GR 123417

12. What is the consequence of an occupant cultivator/plater if he is unable to show the existence of
requisites of tenancy relationship?

Heirs of Jose Juanite vs CA GR 138016

13. What is the consequence of failure to question the jurisdiction of DARAB….or not falling within
the jurisdiction of DARAB?.....???

What will happen to the judgment?