Land Reform And Taxation

Reform implies the existence of a defect that something is deformed or malformed and does not suit existing conditions. Land Reform, refers to the full range of measures that may or should be taken to improve or remedy the defects in the relations among men (e.g., between the tiller and the owner of land, employee and employer in a farm) with respect to their rights in land. “Land Reform” is often used interchangeably with “Agrarian Reform” but in actuality, the latter is much broader than the former.

Land reform in the Philippines
Land reform in the Philippines has long been a contentious issue rooted in the Philippines’s Spanish Colonial Period. Some efforts began during the American Colonial Period with renewed efforts during the Commonwealth, following independence, during Martial Law and especially following the People Power Revolution in 1986. The current law, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, was passed following the revolution and recently extended until 2014. History

Much like Mexico and other Spanish colonies in the Americas, the Spanish settlement in the Philippines revolved around the encomienda system of plantations, known ashaciendas. As the 19th Century progressed, industrialization and liberalization of trade allowed these encomienda to expand their cash crops, establishing a strong sugar industry in the Philippines on such islands and Panay and Negros. American period

The United States of America took possession of the Philippines following the Spanish-American War in 1898 and after putting down the subsequent rebellion in the Philippine-American War. The Second Philippine Commission, the Taft Commission, viewed economic development as one of its top three goals. In 1901 93% of the islands’ land area was held by the government and William Howard Taft, Governor-General of the Philippines, argued for a liberal policy so that a good portion could be sold off to American investors. Instead, the United States Congress, influenced by agricultural interests that did not want competition from the Philippines, in the 1902 Land Act, set a limit of 16 hectares of land to be sold or leased to American individuals and 1,024 hectares to American corporations. This and a downturn in the investment environment discouraged the foreign-owned plantations common in British Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, and French Indochina. Further, he U.S. Federal Government faced the problem of much of the private land being owned by the Roman Catholic Church and controlled by Spanish clerics.

The American government—officially secular, hostile to the continued Spanish control of much of the land of the now-American colony, and long hostile to Catholics—negotiated a settlement with the Church over its land. The 1902 Philippine Organic Act was a constitution of the Insular Government, as the U.S. civil administration was known. This act, among other actions, disestablished the Catholic Church as the state religion. The United States government, in an effort to resolve the status of the friars, negotiated with the Vatican. The church agreed to sell the friars’ estates and promised gradual substitution of Filipino and other non-Spanish priests for the friars. It refused, however, to withdraw the religious orders from the islands immediately, partly to avoid offending Spain. In 1904 the administration bought for $7.2 million the major part of the friars’ holdings, amounting to some 166,000 hectares (410,000 acres), of which one-half was in the vicinity of Manila. The land was eventually resold to Filipinos, some of them tenants but the majority of them estate owners.

Commonwealth Period
During the American Colonial Period, tenant farmers complained about the share cropping system, as well as by the dramatic increase in population which added economic pressure to the tenant farmers’ families. As a result, an agrarian reform program was initiated by the Commonwealth. However, success of the program was hampered by ongoing clashes between tenants and landowners. An example of these clashes includes one initiated by Benigno Ramos through his Sakdalista movement, which advocated tax reductions, land reforms, the breakup of the large estates or haciendas, and the severing of American ties. The uprising, which occurred in Central Luzon in May, 1935, claimed about a hundred lives

Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933
When the Philippine Commonwealth was established, President Manuel L. Quezon implemented the Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933. The purpose of this act was to regulate the share-tenancy contracts by establishing minimum standards. Primarily, the Act provided for better tenant-landlord relationship, a 50–50 sharing of the crop, regulation of interest to 10% per agricultural year, and a safeguard against arbitrary dismissal by the landlord. The major flaw of this law was that it could be used only when the majority of municipal councils in a province petitioned for it. Since landowners usually controlled such councils, no province ever asked that the law be applied. Therefore, Quezón ordered that the act be mandatory in all Central Luzon provinces. However, contracts were good only for one year. By simply refusing the renew their contract, landlords were able to eject tenants. As a result, peasant organizations agitated in vain for a law that would make the contract automatically renewable for as long as the tenants fulfilled their obligations. In 1936, this Act was amended to get rid of its loophole, but the landlords made its application relative and not absolute.

Consequently, it was never carried out in spite of its good intentions. In fact, by 1939, thousands of peasants in Central Luzon were being threatened with wholesale eviction. By the early 1940s, thousands of tenants in Central Luzon were ejected from their farmlands and the rural conflict was more acute than ever. Therefore, during the Commonwealth period, agrarian problems persisted. This motivated the government to incorporate a cardinal principle of social justice in the 1935 Constitution. Dictated by the social justice program of the government, the expropriation of landed estates and other landholdings commenced. Likewise, the National Land Settlement Administration (NSLA) began an orderly settlement of public agricultural lands. At the outbreak of the Second World War, major settlement areas containing more than 65,000 hectares were already established.

Independence
When the Philippines gained its independence in 1946, much of the land was held by a small group of wealthy landowners. There was much pressure on the democratically elected government to redistribute the land. At the same time, many of the democratically elected office holders were landowners themselves or came from land-owning families. In 1946, shortly after his induction to Presidency, Manuel Roxas proclaimed the Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933 effective throughout the country. However problems of land tenure continued. In fact these became worse in certain areas. Among the remedial measures enacted was Republic Act No. 1946 likewise known as the Tenant Act which provided for a 70–30 sharing arrangements and regulated share-tenancy contracts. It was passed to resolve the ongoing peasant unrest in Central Luzon. As part of his Agrarian Reform agenda, President Elpidio Quirino issued on October 23, 1950 Executive Order No. 355 which replaced the National Land Settlement Administration with Land Settlement Development Corporation (LASEDECO) which takes over the responsibilities of the Agricultural Machinery Equipment Corporation and the Rice and Corn Production Administration. Ramon Magsaysay administration

President Ramon Magsaysay at the Presidential Study, Malacañan Palace To amplify and stabilize the functions of the Economic Development Corps (EDCOR), President Ramon Magsaysay worked for the establishment of the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA), which took over from the EDCOR and helped in the giving of some sixty-five thousand acres to three thousand indigent families for settlement purposes. Again, it allocated some other twenty-five thousand to a little more than one thousand five hundred landless families, who subsequently became farmers. As a further aid to the rural people, the president established the Agricultural Credit and Cooperative Administration (ACCFA). The idea was for this entity to make available rural credits. Records show that it did grant, in this wise, almost ten million dollars. This administration body next devoted its attention to cooperative marketing.

Along this line of help to the rural areas, President Magsaysay initiated in all earnestness the artesian wells campaign. A group-movement known as the Liberty Wells Association was formed and in record time managed to raise a considerable sum for the construction of as many artesian wells as possible. The socio-economic value of the same could not be gainsaid and the people were profuse in their gratitude. Finally, vast irrigation projects, as well as enhancement of the Ambuklao Power plant and other similar ones, went a long way towards bringing to reality the rural improvement program advocated by President Magsaysay. President Ramón Magsaysay enacted the following laws as part of his Agrarian Reform Program:

Republic Act No. 1160 of 1954 – Abolished the LASEDECO and established the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) to resettle dissidents and landless farmers. It was particularly aimed at rebel returnees providing home lots and farmlands in Palawan and Mindanao. Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954) – Governed the relationship between landowners and tenant farmers by organizing share-tenancy and leasehold system. The law provided the security of tenure of tenants. It also created the Court of Agrarian Relations. Republic Act No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of 1955) – Created the Land Tenure Administration (LTA) which was responsible for the acquisition and distribution of large tenanted rice and corn lands over 200 hectares for individuals and 600 hectares for corporations. Republic Act No. 821 (Creation of Agricultural Credit Cooperative Financing Administration) – Provided small farmers and share tenants loans with low interest rates of six to eight percent. Macapagal administration

The Agricultural Land Reform Code (RA 3844) was a major Philippine land reform law enacted in 1963 under President Diosdado Macapagal. The code declared that it was State policy

1. To establish owner-cultivatorship and the economic family-size farm as the basis of Philippine agriculture and, as a consequence, divert landlord capital in agriculture to industrial development; 2. To achieve a dignified existence for the small farmers free from pernicious institutional restraints and practices; 3. To create a truly viable social and economic structure in agriculture conducive to greater productivity and higher farm incomes; 4. To apply all labor laws equally and without discrimination to both industrial and agricultural wage earners; 5. To provide a more vigorous and systematic land resettlement program and public land distribution; and 6. To make the small farmers more independent, self-reliant and responsible citizens, and a source of genuine strength in our democratic society. and, in pursuance of those policies, established the following 1. An agricultural leasehold system to replace all existing share tenancy systems in agriculture; 2. A declaration of rights for agricultural labor;

3. An authority for the acquisition and equitable distribution of agricultural land; 4. An institution to finance the acquisition and distribution of agricultural land; 5. A machinery to extend credit and similar assistance to agriculture; 6. A machinery to provide marketing, management, and other technical services to agriculture; 7. A unified administration for formulating and implementing projects of land reform; 8. An expanded program of land capability survey, classification, and registration; and 9. A judicial system to decide issues arising under this Code and other related laws and regulations.

Marcos administration
On September 10, 1971, President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed the Code of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines into law which established the Department of Agrarian Reform, effectively replacing the Land Authority. In 1978, the DAR was renamed the Ministry of Agrarian Reform. On July 26, 1987, following the People Power Revolution, the department was re-organized through Executive Order (EO) No. 129-A. In 1988, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law created the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program which is also known as CARP.

Corazon Aquino administration
President Aquino envisioned agrarian and land reform as the centerpiece of her administration’s social legislative agenda. However, her family background and social class as a privileged daughter of a wealthy and landed clan became a lightning rod of criticisms against her land reform agenda. On February 22, 1987, three weeks after the resounding ratification of the 1987 Constitution, agrarian workers and farmers marched to the historic Mendiola Street near the Malacañan Palace to demand genuine land reform from Aquino’s administration. However, the march turned violent when Marine forces fired at farmers who tried to go beyond the designated demarcation line set by the police. As a result, 12 farmers were killed and 19 were injured in this incident now known as the Mendiola Massacre. This incident led some prominent members of the Aquino Cabinet to resign their government posts. In response to calls for agrarian reform, President Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation 131 and Executive Order 229 on July 22, 1987, which outlined her land reform program, which included sugar lands.

In 1988, with the backing of Aquino, the new Congress of the Philippines passed Republic Act No. 6657, more popularly known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.” The law paved the way for the redistribution of agricultural lands to tenant-farmers from landowners, who were paid in exchange by the government through just compensation but were also allowed to retain not more than five hectares of land. However, corporate landowners were also allowed under the law to “voluntarily divest a proportion of their capital stock, equity or participation in favor of their workers or other qualified beneficiaries”, in lieu of turning over their land to the government for redistribution. Despite the flaws in the law, the Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality in 1989, declaring that the implementation of the comprehensive agrarian reform program (CARP) provided by the said law, was “a revolutionary kind of expropriation.” Despite the implementation of CARP, Aquino was not spared from the controversies that eventually centered on Hacienda Luisita, a 6,453-hectare estate located in the Province of Tarlac, which she, together with her siblings inherited from her father Jose Cojuangco (Don Pepe).

Critics argued that Aquino bowed to pressure from relatives by allowing stock redistribution under Executive Order 229. Instead of land distribution, Hacienda Luisita reorganized itself into a corporation and distributed stock. As such, ownership of agricultural portions of the hacienda were transferred to the corporation, which in turn, gave its shares of stocks to farmers. The arrangement remained in force until 2006, when the Department of Agrarian Reform revoked the stock distribution scheme adopted in Hacienda Luisita, and ordered instead the redistribution of a large portion of the property to the tenant-farmers. The Department stepped into the controversy when in 2004, violence erupted over the retrenchment of workers in the Hacienda, eventually leaving seven people dead. Ramos administration

President Fidel V. Ramos speeded the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of former President Corazon Aquino in order to meet the ten-year time frame. However, there were constraints such as the need to firm up the database and geographic focus, generate funding support, strengthen inter-agency cooperation, and mobilize implementation partners, like the non-government organizations, local governments, and the business community. In 1992, the government acquired and distributed 382 hectares of land with nearly a quarter of a million farmer-beneficiaries. This constituted 41% of all land titles distributed by the Department of Agrarian Reform(DAR) during the last thirty years.

But by the end of 1996, the DAR had distributed only 58.25% of the total area it was supposed to cover. From January to December 1997, the DAR distributed 206,612 hectares. That year, since 1987, the DAR had distributed a total of 2.66 million hectares which benefited almost 1.8 million tenant-farmers. One major problem that the Ramos administration faced was the lack of funds to support and implement the program. The Php50 million, alloted by R.A. No. 6657 to finance the CARP from 1988 to 1998, was no longer sufficient to support the program. To address this problem, Ramos signed R.A. No. 8532 to amend the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) which further strengthened the CARP by extending the program to another ten years. Ramos signed this law on February 23, 1998 – a few months before the end of Ramos’ term. Arroyo administration

On September 27, 2004, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, signed Executive Order No. 364, and the Department of Agrarian Reform was renamed to Department of Land Reform. This EO also broadened the scope of the department, making it responsible for all land reform in the country. It also placed the Philippine Commission on Urban Poor (PCUP) under its supervision and control. Recognition of the ownership of ancestral domain by indigenous peoples also became the responsibility of this new department, under the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

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.” When President Noynoy Aquino took office, there was a renewed push to compete the agrarian reform. The Department of Agrarian Reform adopted a goal of distributed all CARP-eligible land by the end of Pres. Aquino’s term in 2016. As of June 2013, 694,181 hectares remained to be distributed, according to DAR. Hacienda Luisita, owned by the Cojuangco family, which includes the late former President Corazón C. Aquino and her son, current President Aquino, has been a notable case of land reform. Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program is the current law under which land reform is conducted. Large land-holdings are broken up and distributed to farmers and workers on that particular hacienda. The crops grown on such haciendas include sugar and rice. Each farmer is giving a “certificates of land ownership award” or CLOA for their new property. Under the law, a landowner can only retain 5 hectares, regardless of the size of the hacienda. Conflict can arise between previous landowners and “beneficiaries” and between competing farmers’ groups that have conflicting claims. In December 2008, CARP expired and the following year CARPer was passed. CARPer stands for “Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms”. CARPer expires in 2014.

What is Taxation?
It is the inherent power by which the sovereign state imposes financial burden upon persons and property as a means of raising revenues in order to defray the necessary expenses of the government (Tax Digest by Crescencio Co Untian, 2002). Taxation is the imposition of financial charges or other levies, upon a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. It is a mode by which government make exactions for revenue in order to support their existence and carry out their legitimate objectives (Tax Law and Jurisprudence by Justice Vitug, 2000). It is the most pervasive and the strongest of all the powers of the government. Taxes are the lifeblood of the government, without which, it cannot subsist. History of Taxation

The first known system of taxation was in Ancient Egypt around 3000 BC – 2800 BC in the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom. In Biblical times, tax is already prevalent. According to Genesis 47:24:

“But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children”. Earliest taxes in Rome are called as portoria were customs duties on imports and exports Augustus Caesar introduced the inheritance tax to provide retirement funds for the military. The tax was five percent on all inheritances except gifts to children and spouses. In England, taxes were first used as emergency measures.

The pre-colonial society, being communitarian, did not have taxes. During the Spanish Period, new income-generating means were introduced by the government such as the : Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade

Polo Y Servicio (Forced Labor)
Bandala
Encomienda System
Tribute
Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade was the main source of income for the colony during its early years. The Galleon trade brought silver from Nueva Castilla and silk from China by way of Manila. Polo Y Servicio is the forced labor for 40 days, of men ranging from 16 to 60 years of age who were obligated to give personal services to community projects. One could be exempted from the polo by paying a fee called falla (which was worth one and a half real). Bandala is one of the taxes collected from the Filipinos. It comes from the Tagalog word mandala, which is a round stock of rice stalks to be threshed. Encomienda are large tracts of land given to a person as reward for a meritorious act. The encomenderos were given full authority to manage the encomienda by collecting tribute from the inhabitants and govern people living on it. Tribute was the residence tax during the Spanish times. It may be paid in cash or kind, partly, or wholly. But in 1884, the tribute was replaced by the cedula personal or personal identity paper, equivalent to the present community tax certificate.

Did you know?
That in the 19th century, the “cedula” served as an identification card that had to be carried at all times. A person who could not present his or her cedula to a guardia civil could then be detained for being “indocumentado”. Andres Bonifacio and other Katipuneros tore their cedulas in August 1896, signaling the start of the Philippine Revolution.

The Development of the Community Tax
The cédula was imposed by the Americans on January 1, 1940, when Commonwealth Act No. 465 went into effect, mandating the imposition of a base residence tax of fifty centavos and an additional tax of one peso based on factors such as income and real estate holdings. The payment of this tax would merit the issue of a residence certificate. Corporations were also subject to the residence tax.

What is a “cedula”?
Also known as a “residence certificate”, is a legal identity document in the Philippines. Issued by cities and municipalities to all persons that have reached the age of majority and upon payment of a community tax, it is considered as a primary form of identification in the Philippines and is one of the closest single documents the Philippines has to a national system of identification, akin to a driver’s license and a passport. Why is “cedula” important?

A person is required to present a cedula when he or she acknowledges a document before a notary public; takes an oath of office upon election or appointment to a government position; receives a license, certificate or permit from a public authority; pays a tax or fee; receives money from a public fund; transacts official business; or receives salary from a person or corporation. The Four R’s of Taxation

Taxation has four main purposes or effects:
1. Revenue
The taxes raise money to spend on armies, roads, schools and hospitals, and on more indirect government functions like market regulation or legal systems. 2. Redistribution
This refers to the transferring wealth from the richer sections of society to poorer sections. 3. Repricing
Taxes are levied to address externalities; for example, tobacco is taxed to discourage smoking, and a carbon tax discourages use of carbon-based fuels. 4. Representation
As what goes with the slogan “no taxation without representation” , it implies that: rulers tax citizens, and citizens demand accountability from their rulers as the other part of this bargain. Why Tax?

The main purpose of taxation is to accumulate funds for the functioning of the government machineries. No government in the world can run its administrative office without funds and it has no such system incorporated in itself to generate profit from its functioning. The government’s ability to serve the people depends upon the taxes that are collected. Taxes are indispensable in the government operation and without it, the government will be paralyzed.

The Philippine Tax System
Tax law in the Philippines covers national and local taxes. National taxes refer to national internal revenue taxes imposed and collected by the national government through the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and local taxes refer to those imposed and collected by the local government. The 1987 Philippine Constitution sets limitations on the exercise of the power to tax. The rule of taxation shall be uniform and equitable. The Congress shall evolve a progressive system of taxation. (Article VI, Section 28, Paragraph 1). What is Tax Evasion?

Tax evasion happens when there is fraud through pretension and the use of other illegal devices to lessen one’s taxes, there is tax evasion, under-declaration of income, and non-declaration of income and other items subject to tax, Under-appraisal of goods subject to tariff , and over-declaration of deductions The Branches of Government vis-à-vis the Tax Law

The Congress may, by law, authorize the President to fix within specified limits, and subject to such limitations and restrictions as it may impose, tariff rates, import and export quotas, tonnage and wharfage dues, and other duties or imposts within the framework of the national development program of the Government (Article VI, Section 28, Paragraph 2).

The President shall have the power to veto any particular item or items in an appropriation, revenue, or tariff bill, but the veto shall not affect the item or items to which he does not object (Article VI, Section 27, Paragraph 2).

The Supreme Court has the power to: review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm on appeal or certiorari, as the law or the Rules of Court may provide, final judgments and orders of lower courts in “all cases involving the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, or toll, or any penalty imposed in relation thereto” (Article VIII, Section 5, Paragraph 2b). The Forms of Taxes Imposed on Persons and Property

A) Personal, capitation or poll taxes
These are taxes of fixed amount upon residents or persons of a certain class without regard to their property or business

B) Property taxes
1. Real Property Tax – an annual tax that may be imposed by a province or city or a municipality on real property such as land, building, machinery and other improvements affixed or attached to real property. 2. Estate Tax (Inheritance Tax) – a tax on the right of transmitting property at the time of death and on the privilege that a person is given in controlling to a certain extent the disposition of his property to take effect upon death.

3. Gift or Donor’s Tax – a tax on the privilege of transmitting one’s property or property rights to another or others without adequate and full valuable consideration. 4. Capital Gains Tax – tax imposed on the sale or exchange of property . Those imposed are presumed to have been realized by the seller for the sale, exchange or other disposition of real property located in the Philippines, classified as capital assets.

C.) Income Taxes – Taxes imposed on the income of the taxpayers from whatever sources it is derived. Tax on all yearly profits arising form property, possessions, trades or offices. D.) Excise or License Taxes – Taxes imposed on the privilege, occupation or business not falling within the classification of poll taxes or property taxes. These are imposed on alcohol products; on tobacco products; on petroleum products like lubricating oils, grease, processed gas etc; on mineral products such as coal and coke and quarry resources; on miscellaneous articles such as automobiles. The Branches of Government vis-à-vis the Tax Law

Under these lies two other taxes:
1.Documentary Stamp Tax – a tax imposed upon documents, instruments, loan agreements and papers and upon acceptance of assignments, sales and transfers of obligation and etc.
2. Value added tax- is imposed on any person who, in the course of trade or business sells, barters, exchanges, leases, goods or properties, renders services, or engages in similar transactions. Who Should Pay Taxes?

1. Individuals
a. Resident Citizen
b. Non-resident Citizen
c. Resident Aliens
d. Non-resident Aliens
2. Corporations
a. Domestic Corporations
b. Foreign Corporations
3. Estate under judicial settlement
4. Trusts irrevocable both as to the trust property and as to the income. Who (or What) are those exempted in paying taxes?
The Constitution expressly grants tax exemption on certain entities/institutions such as:
1. Charitable institutions, churches, parsonages or convents appurtenant thereto, mosques, and nonprofit cemeteries and all lands, buildings and improvements actually, directly and exclusively used for religious, charitable or educational purposes (Article VI, Section 28, Paragraph 3). 2. Non-stock non-profit educational institutions used actually, directly, and exclusively for educational purposes. (Article XVI, Section 4 (3)).

Exempted to tax as stated in the Article 283 of Rules and Regulations Implementing Local Government Code of 1991 (RA 7160): Local water districts
Cooperatives duly registered under RA 6938, otherwise known as the Cooperative Code of the Philippines Non-stock and non-profit hospitals and educational institutions Printer and/or publisher of books or other reading materials prescribed by DECS (now DepEd) as school texts or references, insofar as receipts from the printing and / or publishing thereof are concerned.

LAND REFORM AND TAXATION
(Research work)

Submitted by: Partoza, Marinelli L.

E5I/BSIE

November 20, 2014

Reaction:

Land reforms refers to all sets of activities and measures that may or should be taken to improve or correct the defects or problems in the relations among men with respect to their rights to the land they till. The land reform is a program states that the small group of farmers should have their own land for the farming industry or other agriculture industry. The issuances of land to partake on the farmers were taken at this kind of program.

There are such laws of land reform given by the some of the different president of the Philippines to issue the different reforms of land subjective to the benefits of the farmers. These are the following: Corazon Aquino

When she became president, President Aquino considered agrarian and land reform as the center of her administration. However, she was criticized being the co-owner of Hacienda Luicita in Tarlac. On 1988, the Congress of the Philippines passed a Republic Act 6657 known as Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, which was backed up by Mrs.Aquino. The law is about the distribution of agricultural lands to tenants-farmers from landowners and also allowed to retain not more than 5 hectares of land. Fidel V. Ramos

His administration came face to face with publics who have lost confidence in the agrarian reform program. His administration committed to the vision “Fairer, faster and more meaningful implementation of the Agrarian Reform Program. Joseph Estrada

Widened the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) to the landless peasants in the country side. Distributed 266,000 hectares of land to175,000 farmers in the start of his career.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
CARP- Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
Summary AIM:
Landless farmers and farmworkers will receive a family sized farms and not just compensations from the owner where they work in.

Taxation
Taxes are the enforced proportional contributions from persons and property charged by the law making body for the support of the government and all public needs. The purpose of taxation on the part of the government is to provide funds with which to promote the general welfare and protection of its citizen and to enable it to finance its multifarious activities.