November 27, 2000
DAR OPINION NO. 43-00
ATTY . FRANCISCO A. FUENTES
17 Fuentes Drive
Roxas City
Dear Atty. Fuentes:
This refers to your letter, requesting for advice on the following questions, to wit:
1) Who are considered as "qualified beneficiaries" in accordance with the guidelines established by the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC), pursuant to the last paragraph of Section 7, Chapter II of R.A. No. 6657?
2) a) "Does a tenancy relationship exist between me as the landowner-lessor and the two lessees with whom I have no sharing of the harvests or expenses but who pay a fixed rental after each harvest?"
b) If the answer is "no", do said lessees have any right to ask for any right to ask for a "disturbance compensation" in the event I demand that they vacate my property? If so, on what ground?
3) If one or both lessees die, can anyone of their children lawfully succeed to the possession of my property without my prior express approval?
Anent your first query, to be an agrarian reform beneficiary, one must: be landless; be at least fifteen (15) years old or head of the family at the time the property was transferred in the name of the Republic of the Philippines; and have the willingness, ability and aptitude to cultivate the land and make it as productive as possible as provided for under Section 22 of Republic Act No. 6657.
Anent your second query [2(a)], the following essential requisites must be present to establish a tenancy relationship, to wit:
1. the parties are the landowner and the tenant;
2. the subject is agricultural land;
3. the purpose is agricultural production;
4. there is consideration or compensation in terms of payment of a fixed amount in money and/or produce;
5. there is consent by the landowner for the tenant to work on the land; and
6. there is personal cultivation by the tenant.
In Caballes vs. DAR, et al., G.R. No. L-78214, December 5, 1988, all these requisites must concur in order to create a tenancy relationship between the parties. The absence of one does not make an occupant of a parcel of land, or a cultivator thereof, or a planter thereon a de jure tenant.
Considering that there is a consideration in the form of a fixed rental after each harvest, such constitutes as price certain for the cultivation and use of the land as contemplated in Section 166 (2&3) of R.A. No. 3844, as amended. Thus, there is tenancy which, however, under said law has been restructured as agricultural leasehold.
As regards your third query [2(2)], the provision of Republic Act No. 3844, as amended by R.A. No. 6389, prescribes payment of disturbance compensation to agricultural lessee in cases of conversion in land use of tenanted land to non-agricultural.
Concomitantly, it bears stressing here that under Section 7 of R.A. No. 3844, as amended, it provides:
"Sec. 7. Tenure of Agricultural Leasehold Relation. — The agricultural leasehold relation once established shall confer upon the agricultural lessee the right to continue working on the landholding until such leasehold relation is extinguished. The agricultural lessee shall be entitled to security of tenure on his landholding and cannot be ejected therefrom unless authorized by the Court for causes herein provided."
It is, thus, clear that a landowner-lessor cannot eject or demand his lessee to vacate his property, unless authorized by the Court (now, DAR Adjudication Board), after due hearing, for causes as provided for in Section 36 of R.A. No. 3844, as amended.
And your last query is categorically answered by Section 9 of R.A. No. 3844, as amended, providing that the leasehold relation between the agricultural lessor and the agricultural lessee is not extinguished by the death or permanent incapacity of the lessee, and, the leasehold shall continue between the agricultural lessor and the person who can cultivate the landholding personally, chosen by the agricultural lessor within one (1) month from such death or incapacity, from among the following: (a) the surviving spouse; (b) the eldest direct descendant by consanguinity; or (c) the next eldest descendant or descendants in the order of their age . . . Provided, further, That in the event the agricultural lessor fails to exercise his choice within the periods herein provided, the priority shall be in accordance with the order herein established. (emphasis and emphasis supplied)
Thank your for communicating with us.
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) FEDERICO A. POBLETE
Undersecretary for Legal Affairs, and Policy and Planning
Copy furnished:
PARO Ramon Benjamin
DAR Provincial Office
Capiz, Kilometer I
Roxas City
The Municipal Agrarian Reform Officer
DAR Municipal Office
Roxas City