Converting the Bureau of Farm Management (DAR) into the Bureau of Land Tenure Improvement

August 18, 1976

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 980

CONVERTING THE BUREAU OF FARM MANAGEMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM INTO A BUREAU OF LAND TENURE IMPROVEMENT

WHEREAS, the Department of Agrarian Reform has been created and mandated by law to implement state policies and decrees of agrarian reform;

WHEREAS, agrarian reform has been made the cornerstone of reforms in the New Society, and under Presidential Decree Nos. 2 and 27, the government was set into motion to overhaul the system of land tenure in order to fully emancipate the tenant-farmers from their bondage;

WHEREAS, to effectively carry this out, there is a need to increase the capability of the Department of Agrarian Reform in developing and implementing plans and programs on the various aspects of land tenure improvement; and

WHEREAS, the implementation of Presidential Decree No. 27 has spawned complex problems the solutions of which would require greater concentration of efforts and resources. This can be achieved by reorienting the functions of the Department's personnel at the field level. acd

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree:

SECTION 1. Creation of the Bureau of Land Tenure Improvement.— The Bureau of Farm Management in the Department of Agrarian Reform is hereby converted into the Bureau of Land Tenure Improvement, to be headed by a Director who may be assisted by an Assistant Director. casia

SECTION 2. Functions.— The Bureau shall be responsible for providing staff services for the development of policies, plans and programs, and standard operating procedures on land-tiller-landowner identification, tenurial security and leasehold arrangements, land transactions leading to the transfer of land ownership to tenant-farmers including related records, land valuation and landowners compensation, land tenure research, and joint projects with other government offices and private institutions to be established in tenanted areas and landed estates that will improve land tenure and land use; for establishing and operating a monitoring and information system on land tenure improvement, and for performing such other functions that the Secretary may assign pertaining to land tenure improvement.

SECTION 3. Functional Divisions.— The Bureau shall have the following divisions:

a.  Land Transactions Divisions shall be responsible for developing programs for the identification and maintenance of a current inventory of tillers, landowners, landholdings including crops and production thereon; and for all transactions involving tenurial security, leasehold arrangements, land transfers and change in land use. It shall be responsible for developing standards for the valuation of lands acquired by the government under the agrarian reform program and the payment of the landowners thereof. It shall establish and operate a monitoring and information system on land tenure improvement.

b.  Land Tenure Research and Projects Division which shall be responsible for the preparing research designs on land tenure improvement and the development of joint projects with other government offices and private institutions in tenanted areas and landed estates that will improve land tenure and land use.

SECTION 4. Transfer of Personnel and Appropriations.— The personnel, appropriations, records, equipment and property of the converted Bureau of Farm Management shall be transferred to the Bureau of Land Tenure Improvement.

SECTION 5. Field Personnel of the Department.— The field personnel of the Department of Agrarian Reform particularly those assigned to the Agrarian Reform Project Teams, shall now be reoriented towards assuming primary responsibility for implementing agrarian reform programs, particularly the policies, plans and programs on land-tiller-landowner identification, tenurial security and leasehold arrangements, land transactions leading to the transfer of land ownership to tenant-farmers including related records, land valuation and landowners' compensation, land tenure research and such other functions that the Office of the Secretary may assign pertaining to land tenure improvement: Provided, That in order not to disrupt the on-going process of the integrated approach to agrarian report field implementation, the Agrarian Reform Project Teams shall continue to undertake functions and activities pertaining and related to project identification and formulation; organization of compact and/or integrated farms; and the establishment of cooperative-cultivatorship schemes: Provided, further, That in order to avoid duplication of functions with the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Reform shall not undertake agricultural, home and youth development extension activities: Provided, furthermore, That the Department of Agriculture shall assume primary responsibility for providing the necessary agricultural extension services in agrarian reform areas: Provided, finally, That in the agrarian reform areas agricultural extension workers shall be assigned to specific areas of coverage in consultation with the Department of Agrarian Reform.

SECTION 6. Repealing Clause.— All laws, rules and regulations which are inconsistent with this decree are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

DONE in the City of Manila, on this 18th day of August, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Six.