Deoartment of Agrarian Reform

“The Current Status of the Agrarian Reform Implementation in the Philippines”

Sensing the very importance of Agrarian Reform in our country the Office of the Department of Agrarian Reform is tasked to lead in its implementation; a sustainable rural development in the countryside through land tenure improvement and provision of integrated development services to landless farmers, farm workers, and small land owner-cultivators, and the delivery of agrarian justice, to include external links. Since the creation of the Philippines department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) office, (Kagawaran ng Repormang Pansakahan), Republic Act No. 3844 signed into by law late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, in 1962 all land reforms of the country was its responsibility.

In June 10, 1988 Republic Act No. 6657, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Law (CARL) was signed into law by President Conrazon C. Aquino and became the legal basis for the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) with the aim of promoting social justice and industrialization. But said office was renamed as Department of Land Reform, in September 27, 2004, by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo per Executive Order No. 364 broadening the scope of the Department making it responsible for all land reforms in the country. It also placed the Philippine Commission on Urban Poor (PCUP) under its supervision and control. Recognition of the ownership on Ancestral domain by indigenous peoples also became the responsibility of the new department, under Nation Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) but on August 23, 2005, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Executive Order No. 456 and renamed the Department of Land Reform back to Department of Agrarian Reform, since “The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law” goes beyond just land reform but includes the totality of all factors and support services designed to lift the economic status of the beneficiaries.

As an important to the religious effort of our responsible employees of DAR, the Filipino citizen had presently acquired agrarian reform beneficiaries and responsible and progressive bread of owner-cultivators and entrepreneurs; own their land of their own, control and manage Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries own resources; gained better economic, social and political opportunities and resources; fair and justice to land owners and farmers. Furthermore, the latest successful undertakings of the DAR are, it has provided small farmers and farm workers access and control to land and productive resources in accordance with Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law and other laws. To make our brother Filipinos economically viable and globally competitive, it intensified Program Beneficiaries in Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program and most of all the Department of Agrarian Reform presently revitalized the Philippine countryside through socio-economic reforms towards agro-industrialization for a better quality of life.