EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 129
EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 129 -
REORGANIZING THE MINISTRY OF AGRARIAN REFORM AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
RECALLING
that the reorganization of the government is mandated expressly in
Article II, Section I (a), and Article III of the Freedom Constitution;
HAVING IN MIND that, pursuant to Executive Order No. 5 (1986), it is
directed that necessary and proper changes in the organizational and
functional structures of the government, its agencies and
instrumentalities, be effected in order to promote efficiency and
effectiveness in the delivery of public services;
TAKING NOTE that the agricultural sector of the Philippine economy has
been the prime mover of economic growth;
CONVINCED that the agrarian sector, in its present state, requires a
thoroughgoing transformation in order to be more effective in
fulfilling its primary role in sustained national development;
CONSIDERING that an expanded and comprehensive agrarian reform program
is viewed by the new government as the main strategy for democratizing
ownership and control of all agricultural lands;
AFFIRMING that in order to ensure the effective implementation of this
comprehensive agrarian reform program, there is an urgent need to
expand the functions and strengthen the machinery of the Ministry of
Agrarian Reform;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, by
virtue of the powers vested in me by the sovereign will of the Filipino
people and the Freedom Constitution, do hereby order:
Section 1. Title. — This Executive Order shall
otherwise be known as the Reorganization Act of the Ministry of
Agrarian Reform.
Sec. 2. Reorganization. — The Ministry of Agrarian
Reform hereinafter, referred to as Ministry, is hereby reorganized,
organizationally and functionally, in accordance with the provisions of
this Executive Order.
Sec. 3. Declaration of Policy. — It is the
declared policy of the State to completely abolished all remnants of
feudalism and all other types of unjust tenurial arrangements,
implement a comprehensive agrarian reform program, increase the
productivity of the direct producers, and strengthen the agricultural
base for increased industrialization.
Pursuant to this policy, the State shall:
(a)
Establish owner-cultivated, economic, family-size farms and
collectively-owned/cooperatively-cultivated farms as the foundation of
Philippine agriculture;
(b) Prohibit
absentee land ownership;
(c) Rechannel
and divert landlord capital in agriculture to industrial development;
(d) Assist in
the preservation and conservation of prime lands for agricultural
purposes;
(e) Encourage
the establishments and protect the autonomy and independence of
institutions of farmers and farmworkers that will safeguard their
interests and ensure their dignified existence, free from pernicious
restraints and practices;
(f) Create
just and viable socio-economic structures in agriculture conducive to
greater productivity and higher incomes through the cooperative system
of production, processing, marketing, distribution, and credit
services;
(g) Accelerate
the agrarian reform program and develop agrarian communities for full
utilization of land and for human growth and development;
(h)
Institutionalize partnerships between government and organizations of
farmers and farmworkers in agrarian reform policy formulation, program
implementation and evaluation;
(i) Provide
specific investment opportunities, alternative employment, and other
incentives for landowners affected by agrarian reform;
(j) Ensure
adequate funding support for the agrarian reform program as well as
timely, affordable, and appropriate financing schemes to its
beneficiaries;
(k) Implement
an agricultural land tax scheme that will prevent land hoarding and/or
speculation.
Sec. 4. Mandate. — The Ministry shall be
responsible for implementing the new agrarian reform program and, for
such purpose, it is authorized to:
(a)
Acquire, determine the value of, subdivided into family-size farms or
organize into collective or cooperative farms and develop private
agricultural lands for distribution to qualified tillers, actual
occupants, and displaced urban poor;
(b) Administer
and dispose of all cultivable portions of the public domain
proclaimed/reserved as resettlement areas for agricultural purposes by
the President;
(c) Acquire,
by purchase or grant, real estate properties suited for agriculture
that have been foreclosed by the national government;
(d) Undertake
land consolidation, land reclamation, land forming, and conservation in
areas subject to agrarian reform;
(e) Compensate
the landowners covered by agrarian reform;
(f) Issue
emancipation patents to farmers and farmworkers who have been given
lands under the agrarian reform program as may be provided for by law;
(g) Provide
free legal services to agrarian reform beneficiaries and resolve
agrarian conflicts and land tenure problems;
(h) Develop
and implement alternative land tenure systems such as cooperative
farming and agro-industrial estates, among others;
(i) Undertake
extensive information and education programs on agrarian reform among
the beneficiaries, the government sector, and the general public;
(j) Undertake
land use management and land development studies and projects in
agrarian reform areas;
(k) Approve or
disapprove the conversion, restructuring or readjustment of
agricultural lands into non-agricultural uses;
(l) Monitor
and evaluate the progress of agrarian reform implementation;
(m) Assist the
Office of the Government General Counsel (Office of the Solicitor
General) in providing evidence for the reversion proceedings to be
filed with respect to lands of the public domain, occupied by private
individuals and their tenants or farm workers which are subject to land
reform, and real rights connected therewith which have been acquired in
violation of the Constitution or the public land laws, or through
corrupt practices; no transfer or disposition of such lands or real
rights shall be allowed until after the lapse of one year from the
ratification of the new Constitution;
(n) Submit
progress reports to the Office of the President, to Congress, and to
the people at the end of each year and at all times make available to
the general public information on the current status of its programs.
Sec. 5. Powers and Functions. — Pursuant to the
mandate of the Ministry, and in order to ensure the successful
implementation of the expanded and comprehensive agrarian reform
program as envisioned in this Executive Order is hereby authorized to:
(a)
Advise the President on the promulgation of executive/administrative
orders, other regulative issuances and legislative proposals designed
to strengthen agrarian reform and protect the interests of the
beneficiaries thereof;
(b) Implement
all agrarian laws, and for this purpose, issue subpoena, subpoena duces
tecum, writs of execution of its decisions, and other legal processes
to ensure successful and expeditious program implementation; the
decision or order of the Ministry is immediately executory even if it
is appealed, unless enjoined by a restraining order or writ of
preliminary injunction, as the case may be, issued by the proper
appellate agency or courts;
(c) Establish
and promulgate operational policies, rules and regulations and
priorities for agrarian reform implementation;
(d) Coordinate
program implementation by the Ministry of Agrarian reform, the Land
Bank of the Philippines, and other relevant civilian and military
government agencies mandated to support the agrarian reform program;
(e) Acquire,
administer, distribute, and develop private agricultural lands covered
by the agrarian reform program;
(f) Undertake
surveys of lands covered by agrarian reform;
(g) Issue
emancipation patents to farmers and farm workers covered by agrarian
reform for both private and public lands and, when necessary, make
administrative corrections of the same;
(h) Provide
free legal services to agrarian reform beneficiaries and resolve
agrarian conflicts and land-tenure related problems as may be provided
for by law;
(i) Promote
the organization and development of cooperatives and other associations
of agrarian reform beneficiaries;
(j) Conduct
continuing education and promotion programs on agrarian reform for
beneficiaries, landowners, government personnel, and the general
public;
(k)
Institutionalize the participation of farmers, farm workers, other
beneficiaries, and agrarian reform advocates in agrarian reform policy
formulation, program implementation, and evaluation;
(l) Have
exclusive authority to approve or disapprove conversion of agricultural
lands for residential, commercial, industrial, and other land uses as
may be provided for by law;
(m) Call upon
any government agency, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines,
and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to extend full support and
cooperation to program implementation;
(n) Exercise
such other powers and functions as may be provided for by law or
assigned by the President, to promote efficiency and effectiveness in
the delivery of public services.
Sec. 6. Minister of Agrarian Reform. — The
authority and responsibility for the exercise of the mandate of the
Ministry and for the discharge of its powers and functions shall be
vested in the Minister of Agrarian Reform, hereinafter referred to as
Minister, who shall have supervision and control over the Ministry and
shall be appointed by the President.
Sec. 7. Office of the Minister. — The Office of
the Minister shall be composed of the Minister and his immediate staff.
Sec. 8. Deputy Ministers. — The Minister shall be
assisted by three (3) Deputy Ministers, appointed by the President upon
the recommendation of the Minister, one for field operations, one for
services and one for staff bureaus.
Sec. 9. Assistant Ministers. — The Minister shall
also be assisted by seven (7) Assistant Ministers, appointed by the
President upon the recommendation of the Minister, one to head the
research and Planning Service, one to head the Finance and Physical
assets, Management Service, one to head the Administrative, Personnel
and Management Service, one to head the Legal and Public Assistance
Service, and one each for the Area Office Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Sec. 10. Organizational Structure. — The Ministry,
in addition to the Ministry Proper comprising the Offices of the
Minister, Deputy and Assistant Ministers, and the services, shall
consist of its Bureaus, Regional Field Offices, Provincial Offices,
Team Offices, Action Groups, and attached agencies.
Sec. 11. Services of the Ministry. — The Services
of the Ministry shall be follows:
(a)
The Research and Planning Service, which shall be responsible for
coordinating and initiating the development, integration and
prioritization of plans, programs, and projects of the Ministry for
judicious allocation of resources and effective and efficient
implementation by the field units; it shall also be responsible for
coordinating or initiating research, monitoring, evaluation and
maintaining a statistics center in relation to agrarian reform program
implementation;
(b) The
Finance and Physical Assets Management Service, which shall be
responsible for proper and timely allocation of funds to support
approved programs, projects, and activities, the appropriate control
and accounting of funds including management improvement and control,
and the management of the physical assets of the Ministry;
(c) The
Administrative, Personnel and Management Service, which shall be
responsible for providing the Ministry with effective, efficient and
economical services relative to personnel management, career
development, welfare, and administrative services, and management
systems;
(d) The Legal
and Public Assistance Service, which shall be responsible for the
review of contracts and other legal matters, the rendition of legal
assistance to ministry personnel and to the public, and the performance
of public relations functions.
SECTION 12.
Bureaus. — The Ministry shall have the following staff bureaus:
(a) The Bureau
of Land Acquisition and Distribution, which shall be responsible for
the development of policies, plans, programs, standard operating
procedures and for providing functional supervision and technical
assistance relative to the acquisition and distribution of private
agricultural lands covered by the agrarian reform program, including
land-tiller-landowner identification, land valuation, and landowners’
compensation, transfer of ownership to actual tillers, leasehold
arrangements, stewardship, and land transfer actions;
(b) The Bureau
of Land Development, which shall be responsible for the development of
policies, plans, and programs, and for providing functional and
technical assistance relative to land surveys, land use, capability,
and classification, engineering services, and land consolidation;
(c) The Bureau
of Agrarian Legal Assistance, which shall be responsible for developing
guidelines, plans and programs for legal assistance and for providing
legal services for agrarian clientele, including developing,
maintaining, and coordinating para-legal services for agrarian reform
beneficiaries;
(d) The Bureau
of Agrarian Reform Information and Education, which shall be
responsible for developing and conducting continuing training and
education programs for the acquisition of knowledge, and development of
skills and favorable attitudes among beneficiaries and personnel of the
Ministry and other agencies, and the increase of awareness,
participation, and acceptance of agrarian reform by the public through
the dissemination of information and communication materials;
(e) The Bureau
of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development, which shall be
responsible for the development of plans, programs, and policies, and
for providing functional and technical assistance relative to the
development of settlement areas into viable agrarian communities; it
shall also be responsible for promoting the organization of agrarian
reform beneficiaries, liaison with farmer and farm worker organizations
to ensure the raising of farm incomes, the promotion of all forms of
farm cooperation, the achievement of a dignified existence and the
creation of a viable economic structure conducive to greater
productivity and higher farm income.
Sec. 13. Regional Field Offices. — The Ministry
shall have twelve (12) Regional Offices. Each Regional Office shall be
headed by a Regional Director.
The Regional Office shall be responsible for supervising the
implementation of laws, policies, plans, programs, projects, rules, and
regulations of the Ministry in its administrative region. For such
purposes, it shall have the following functions:
(a)
Prepare and submit plans and programs for the region on:
(1)
Land acquisition and distribution;
(2)
Information and education;
(3) Land use
management and land development;
(4) Legal and
para-legal services; and
(5) Agrarian
reform beneficiaries development;
(b)
Provide technical assistance to Provincial Offices, Agrarian Reform
Teams, and Action Groups in the implementation of approved plans and
programs;
(c) Conduct
operations research and evaluation of agrarian reforms implementation
within the region;
(d) Coordinate
with other government and private agencies and farmer and farm workers
organizations at the regional level, to carry out programs/projects for
the general welfare of agrarian reform beneficiaries;
(e) Maintain
an information system in coordination with the established monitoring
system;
(f) Review and
evaluate reports and other documents submitted by the Provincial and
Team Offices, Action Groups, and agrarian-reform clientele;
(h) Submit
periodic feedback as may be necessary in the service of the Ministry’s
clientele.
Sec. 14. Provincial Offices. — The Ministry shall
have Provincial Offices as may be necessary in promoting efficiency and
effectiveness in the delivery of public services. Each Provincial
Office shall be headed by a Provincial Agrarian Reform Executive
Officer.
The Provincial Office shall be responsible for directing and
coordinating the operations and activities of the Agrarian Reform Teams
and Action Groups operating within the province and has the following
functions:
(a)
Set priorities, specific target, schedules, and deadlines for the
execution of approved plans, programs, and projects on:
(1)
Land acquisition, distribution, transfer of land ownership to actual
tillers, including land-tiller-landowner identification, tenurial
security, leasehold arrangements, land surveys, land valuation and
landowners’ compensation as may be provided for by law;
(2) Continuing
information and education programs on agrarian reform;
(3)
Encouraging the organization and development of agrarian reform
beneficiaries’ cooperatives and other associations and
institutionalizing farmer-government partnership in agrarian reform
policy formulation, program implementation, and evaluation;
(4)
Landowners’ compensation and rechannelling landowner capital to
industrial development;
(5)
Development and implementation of alternative land tenure systems such
as cooperative farming, cooperative-cultivatorship schemes, and
agro-industrial estates, among others;
(6) Land use
management;
(7) Compact
farming, integrating farming system, sloping agricultural land
technology, and other land conservation measures in agrarian reform
areas, in coordination with farmer and farm workers organizations;
(8) Provision
for legal services to farmers covered by agrarian reform and resolution
of agrarian conflicts and land tenure problems;
(b)
Provide administration services to the Agrarian Reform Teams and Action
Group within the province;
(c) Provide
legal services to agrarian reform beneficiaries in cases arising from
or connected with agrarian reform disputes, handling of expropriation
proceedings, registering cooperatives and reviewing and acting on all
matters initially investigated and elevated by Agrarian Reform Teams;
(d) Provide
technical assistance to Agrarian Reform Teams and Action Groups in the
implementation of approved plans and programs;
(e) Coordinate
with government, private agencies, and farmer and farm worker
organizations at the provincial level, to carry out programs;
(f) Conduct
periodic performance audit survey in collaboration with the regional
office and monitor agrarian reform program accomplishments, including
operational problems and constraints, and recommend appropriate
remedial measures for effective program implementation;
(g) Perform
such other functions as may be necessary in the service of the
Ministry’s clientele.
Sec. 15. Team Offices and Action Groups. — The
Ministry shall have as many team offices as necessary to cover several
municipality. Each Team Office is to be headed by a Team Manager and
shall be composed of several Action Groups.
The Team Office shall be responsible for directly implementing agrarian
reform programs and delivering expected results. For such purpose, it
shall have the following functions:
(a)
Implement policies and programs on land acquisition and distribution
and transfer of landowners to actual tillers, including identification
of farms, landowners, and beneficiaries, leasehold arrangements, land
valuation, landowner’s compensation and transfer action as determined
in accordance with law;
(b) Undertake
continuing information and education programs on agrarian reform among
the beneficiaries thereof;
(c) Encourage
and promote the organization and development of agrarian reform
beneficiaries and assist in the registration of organized cooperatives;
(d)
Institutionalize beneficiaries’ participation in agrarian reform policy
formulation and program implementation;
(e)
Organize/establish compact farms, land consolidation, integrated farm
systems, sloping agricultural land technology and other
cooperative-cultivate-cultivatorship schemes;
(f) Provide
assistance in agrarian reform research;
(g) Provide
assistance to various legal services, including legal information and
legal counselling, documentation and preliminary processing of
applications for patents and applications to purchase lots, preliminary
investigation of conflicting claims of lot boundaries and appraisal of
properties, and mediation of different problems arising from tenancy
relationships; execution and registration of lease contracts, initial
investigation of administrative cases, and other legal services;
(h) Provide
assistance on project identification, formulation, and development that
would uplift the socio-economic status of the beneficiaries including
projects that would channel landlord capital to industrial development;
(i) Coordinate
with other government and private agencies and farmer and farm worker
organizations within the area of coverage for effective program/project
implementation;
(j) Submit
periodic reports on program/project accomplishments including
identified problems and recommended solutions thereto;
(k) Implement
projects supportive of national priority programs which the Ministry is
committed to assist;
(l) Perform
such other functions as may be assigned from time to time, to promote
efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of public services.
The Action Groups shall include
four (4) personnel of the Ministry, two (2) representatives of
farmer/farm worker organizations, and one (1) representative of the
municipal mayor.
Sec. 16. Foundation. — The Foundation for the
Agrarian Reform Movement of the Philippines (FARM-Philippines) is
hereby created. It shall administer, operate, and manage programs and
projects developed by the Bureau of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries
Development within agrarian reform areas and initiate alternative
livelihood projects for displaced small landowners. The Foundation will
be authorized to raise funds and to contract foreign and domestic loans
for its projects. The legal instruments essential in accomplishing the
purposes of this Section shall be submitted to the President and other
authorities, as may be proper, within one hundred twenty (120) days
from the approval of this Executive Order.
Sec. 17. New Structure and Pattern. — Upon the
approval of this Executive Order, the officers (the term “officer” as
used in this Executive Order is intended to be within the meaning of
the term “official,” as is used in the Freedom Constitution and the
succeeding Constitution) and employees of the Ministry shall, in a
hold-over capacity, continue to perform their respective duties and
responsibilities and receive the corresponding salaries and benefits
unless in the meantime they are separated from the service pursuant to
Executive Order No. 17 (1986).
The new position structure and staffing pattern of the Ministry shall
be approved and prescribed by the Minister within one hundred twenty
(120) days from the approval of this Executive Order and the authorized
positions created thereunder shall be filled with regular appointments
by him or by the President as the case may be. Those incumbents whose
positions are not included therein or who are not reappointed shall be
deemed separated from the service. Those separated from the service
shall receive the retirement benefits to which they may be entitled
under existing laws, rules and regulations. Otherwise, they shall be
paid the equivalent of one-month basic salary for every year of
service, or the equivalent nearest fraction thereof favorable to them
on the basis of highest salary received, but in no case shall such
payment exceed the equivalent of 12 months salary.
No court or administrative body shall issue any writ or preliminary
injunction or restraining order to enjoin the separation/replacement of
any officer or employee effected under this Executive Order.
Sec. 18. Prohibition Against Change. — No change
in the reorganization herein prescribed shall be valid except upon
prior approval of the President for the purpose of promoting efficiency
and effectiveness in the delivery of public services.
Sec. 19. Notice or Consent Requirement. — If any
reorganizational change herein authorized is of such substance or
materiality as to prejudice third persons with rights recognized by law
or contract such that notice to or consent of creditors is required to
be made or obtained pursuant to any agreement entered into with any of
such creditors, such notice or consent requirement shall be complied
with prior to the implementation of such reorganizational change.
Sec. 20. Change of Nomenclature. — In the event of
the adoption of a New Constitution which provides for a presidential
form of government, the Ministry shall be called Department of Agrarian
Reform and the titles of Minister, Deputy Minister and Assistant
Minister shall be changed to Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Assistant
Secretary, respectively.
Sec. 21. Funding. — Funds needed to carry out the
provisions of this Executive Order shall be taken from funds available
in the Ministry.
Sec. 22. Implementing Authority of Minister. — The
Minister shall issue such rules, regulations and other issuances as may
be necessary to ensure the effective implementation of the provision of
this Executive Order.
Sec. 23. Separability. — Any portion or provision
of this Executive Order that may be declared unconstitutional shall not
have the effect of nullifying other portions or provisions hereof, as
long as such remaining portions or provisions can still subsist and be
given effect in their entirely.
Sec. 24. Repealing Clause. — All other laws,
decrees, rules, regulations, other issuances, or parts thereof, which
are inconsistent with this Executive Order, are hereby repealed or
modified accordingly.
Sec. 25. Effectivity. — This Executive Order shall
take effect immediately upon its approval.
APPROVED in the City of Manila,
Philippines, this 30th day of January in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen
Hundred and Eighty-seven.
chanrobles virtual law library
Back to Main
chan
robles virtual law library
Since 19.07.98.