WHEREAS,
under the provisions of the Code of Agrarian Reforms, agricultural
share tenancy throughout the country, with the exceptions and/or
qualifications provided for in said Code, has been declared contrary to
public policy and automatically converted into agricultural leasehold;chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
WHEREAS, under Presidential Decree No. 2 dated September 26, 1972, the
whole country has been proclaimed as a land reform areas;chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
WHEREAS, notwithstanding such provisions of the Code of Agrarian
Reforms and Presidential Decree No. 2, many landowners, landholders,
civil law lessees, legal possessors, and usufructuaries, including
persons acting for and in their behalf, particularly in tenanted rice
and/or corn lands, still insist on the crop sharing system to govern
the tenancy relationship with their tenants; and chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
WHEREAS, the penal provisions of the Code of Agrarian Reform are
inadequate to enforce full compliance with the aforestated declared
policy on leasehold and, therefore, there is a need to strengthen said
penal provisions by imposing stiffer penalties.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines,
by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby
decree and order:cralaw:red
Section 1. The agricultural leasehold system shall
continue to govern the relationship between the landowner, landholder,
civil law lessee, legal possessor, usufructuary or any person acting
for and in his behalf, and the tenant-farmer in rice and/or corn lands
not covered by the land transfer program under Presidential Decree No.
27 as well as in those tenanted lands devoted to other crops with the
exceptions and/or qualifications provided for in Sections 4 and 35 of
the Code of Agrarian Reforms.
Section 2. In all cases covered by Section 1 hereof,
all agricultural leasehold contracts shall, upon demand by either
party, be reduced in writing and shall be registered in the form and
manner provided for in the Code of Agrarian Reforms: Provided, That the
leasehold contract may be acknowledged either before the municipal
judge of the municipality where the land is situated or before the
field lawyer of the Department of Agrarian Reform duly commissioned as
a Notary Public for the province/city where the land is situated. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Section 3. Any landowner, landholder, civil law,
lessee, legal possessor, usufructuary, or any person acting for and in
his behalf, who refuse upon the demand by the tenant to comply with the
provisions of Section 1 of this Decree by continuing and maintaining
the share tenancy system, or any person who induces another to enter
into a share tenancy contract, relationship or arrangement shall, upon
conviction, suffer the penalty of two (2) years imprisonment or a fine
of not more than P5,000 or both in the discretion of the court:
Provided, That the execution of a share tenancy contract shall be
considered prima facie evidence of such inducement. In the case of
judicial persons, the manager or the person who has charge of the
management or administration of the property, or in his absence the
person acting in his stead, shall be liable under this Section.
Section 4. In case the tenant refuses to enter into a
leasehold contract, he may be proceeded against before the Court of
Agrarian Relations under the provisions of Section 4, Republic Act No.
3844, as amended by Republic Act No. 6389, and other pertinent
provisions of existing law. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Section 5. Violations of the penal provisions of this
Decree shall exclusively be cognizable by the Court of Agrarian
Relations.
Section 6. Presidential Decree No. 1040 and all other
laws, decrees, orders, and rules and regulations, or parts thereof
inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed, amended or modified
accordingly.
Section 7. This Decree shall take effect immediately.
Done in the City of Manila,
this 10th day of June, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and
seventy-eight.
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