Employment not a disqualification

The assertion that a person who is employed and owns realty cannot be a tenant-farmer lacks basis. It must be stressed that individuals who are employed or who own real property can be considered as tenant-lessee on the agricultural land provided all the essential requisites or elements of tenancy relationship are established. They may not qualify to become beneficiaries or awardees, but certainly they can be agricultural lessees. Employment or owning realty does not ipso facto disqualify one from becoming an agricultural tenant-lessee.

Decision on land valuation

The Adjudicator's decision on land valuation attains finality after the lapse of the 15-day period stated in the DARAB Rules. In the event that the aggrieved party wants to raise the issue to the Regional Trial Court, acting as a Special Agrarian Court, the petition must be filed within the aforementioned period. While a petition for the fixing of just compensation with the Special Agrarian Court is not an appeal from the agrarian reform Adjudicator's decision but an original action, the same has to be filed within the 15-day period stated in the DARAB Rules, otherwise, the Adjudicator's decision will attain finality. This rule is not only in accord with law and settled jurisprudence but also with the principles of justice and equity (LBP v. Raymunda Martinez, G.R. No. 169008. July 31, 2008).

Harvest Sharing

One of the essential requisites of tenancy relationship is the sharing of the harvest between the landowner and the tenant. When a witness testifies and declares that he/she knows for a fact that the allege tenant is the cultivator of the agricultural land since time immemorial without disclosing, however, the circumstances or details of the alleged harvest sharing, such testimony cannot be deemed as evidence of harvest sharing. Occupancy and continued possession of the land will not ipso facto make one a de jure tenant.

The Pride of Albay

Mayon Volcano.. in its usual form. Conspicuously exuding its world acclaimed perfect cone in the heart of the Province of Albay, Bicol, Philippines.

Emancipation from the bondage

The arduous legal battle that tenant-farmers have to endure in order to be finally freed from the bondage of the soil is not unusual. Several agrarian cases can be viewed as a microcosm of the persistent agrarian reform problem in our country. Some tenants have to wait for several years to be emancipated from the bondage. But of course there are also tales of landowners who unduly suffer either the abuse of some farmers or the harsh consequences of agrarian law. We are still faced with the same agrarian problem that we sought to resolved several years back when the CARP law was first introduced. It is high time that we undertake a more realistic, rational comprehensive agrarian reform law. The solution lies with Congress.