PRESCRIBING PENALTIES FOR THE UNLAWFUL-EJECTMENT, EXCLUSION, REMOVAL OR OUSTER OF TENANT FARMERS FROM THEIR FARMHOLDINGS.

• Number: Presidential Decree No. 583
• Sections: 8

Preamble

WHEREAS, I have declared in various decrees, letters of

instructions and other orders, as well as in my speeches and other oral

pronouncements that the land reform program is an urgent and vital

social and economic reform under the New Society;

WHEREAS, the determination of the Government to implement

the program has been demonstrated by various acts, including the

revitalization of agencies implementing the program such as the

Department of Agrarian Reform and the Land Bank, and the channeling of a

major portion of government resources to the program, as well as the

promulgation of decrees, letters of instructions and other orders

designed to hasten the implementation of the program and the protection

of the tenants;

WHEREAS, notwithstanding all the foregoing, there remains a

strong resistance to the program on the part of some of our citizen,

including government officials and this has been made evident by direct

acts such as the ejection of tenant-farmers notwithstanding the

prohibition against ejectment of tenant-farmers under Presidential

Decree No. 316, and some subtle schemes intended to obstruct the

progress of the program or to keep the tenants in perpetual bondage

under a feudalistic system of landownership;

WHEREAS, these acts or schemes against a vital program of

the New Society cannot be allowed, and will not be allowed, to remain

unpunished or without sanction from the Government.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the

Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution,

do hereby decree and order:

Section 1

SECTION 1. In view of the determination of the Government to

emancipate the tenant-farmers from a feudalistic system of

landownership, it is hereby declared a policy of the State, in

furtherance of its desire to protect the tenant-farmers, that no acts or

schemes designed to obstruct the implementation of land reform program

or obviously in derogation of the rights of tenant-farmers shall remain

unpunished.

Section 2

SEC. 2. Any judge of the Court of Agrarian Relations, Court

of First Instance, City or Municipal Court or any fiscal or other

investigating officer, including members of the Armed Forces of the

Philippines, who shall order the ejectment, ouster, exclusion or removal

of any tenant-farmer from the land tilled by him or who shall take

cognizance of any ejectment case or any other similar case designed to

exclude, oust, eject or remove a tenant-farmer from the land tilled by

him without first complying with the provisions of Presidential Decree

No. 316 shall, upon conviction, be punished by prision mayor and

perpetual absolute disqualification.

Section 3

SEC. 3. Any official or employee of the Government,

including members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, who executes

an order for the ouster, removal, exclusion or ejectment of a

tenant-farmer, knowing that the order is unlawful as provided under

Section 4

SEC. 4. Unless previously authorized by the Secretary of

Agrarian Reform, any land-owner who converts his tenanted land primarily

devoted to rice and corn into any non-agricultural use or to the

production of any other crop as a means to avoid the application of the

land reform laws or decrees to his landholdings and to dispossess his

tenant-farmers of the land tilled by them shall, upon conviction, suffer

the penalty of prision mayor or a fine ranging from P5,000.00 to

P10,000.00 or both, at the discretion of the court.

The same penalty shall be imposed on a landowner who by any other

act, scheme or strategy shall eject, exclude, remove or oust and/or

cause the ouster, exclusion, removal or ejectment of a tenant-farmer

from his farm-holding in contravention of decrees, laws, and other

orders on land reform.

Section 5 Repealing Clause.

SEC. 5. Repealing Clause. —

All provisions of existing laws, orders, decrees, rules and regulations

inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 6 Effectivity of this Decree.

SEC. 6. Effectivity of this Decree.—This Decree

shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 16th day of November, in the

year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-four.

(Sgd.)

FERDINAND E. MARCOS

President of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.)

ALEJANDRO MELCHOR

Executive Secretary

Section 2

Section 2 of this Decree shall, upon conviction, suffer the penalty of prision

correccional and perpetual absolute disqualification.