August 1, 1995

DAR OPINION NO. 35-95

Gregorio M. Saldaña

30 Road 7, Project 6

Quezon City

Dear Mr. Saldaña:

This has reference to your letter requesting information on the meaning of the term "tenant" and whether the farmer who occasionally tends to your mango farm is a tenant thereof.

You state that a farmer has been tending to your mango farm and that as compensation, you allowed him to farm more than 11 hectares, appropriating all the harvest thereof, without sharing the same with you up to now. You further state that said farmer failed to make an accounting of the carabaos and a cow you have given him for breeding purposes. Some ten years ago, said farmer transferred to another farmholding and presently farms and lives there with his family. Occasionally, particularly during the mango season, he visits the mango orchard and is paid P1,000.00 for watching the fruiting mangoes. During harvest time, the one who sprays the chemicals for the flowering receives 60% and said farmer gets 20% while you receive 20% of the proceeds of the harvest, respectively. In the light of the foregoing, you ask whether said farmer is considered a tenant.

In the case entitled "Matienzo vs. Servidad" (107 SCRA 276), the Supreme Court had occasion to explain that a tenant, as defined under Section 5(a) of R.A. No. 1199, is a person who himself, and with the aid available from within his immediate household, cultivates the landholding belonging to or possessed by another with the latter's consent for the purpose of production, sharing the produce with the landholder under the share tenancy system, or paying to the landholder a price certain or ascertainable in produce or in money, or both under the leasehold system. Moreover, in De los Reyes vs. Espinelli (30 SCRA 577), the Supreme Court held that cultivation within the meaning of the said definition is not limited to the plowing and harrowing of the land. It covers attending to the care of the growing plants. Furthermore, for tenancy relations to exist between the landowner and the tenant, the following requisites must be present:

—        The parties are the landholder and the tenant;

—        The subject is agricultural land;

—        There is consent, given either orally or in writing, expressly or implied;

—        The purpose is agricultural production;

—        There is personal cultivation; and

—        There is compensation, either in terms of share in the harvest or payment of a fixed amount in money and/or produce (Graza vs. Court of Appeals, 163 SCRA 41).

As regards the question of whether or not the farmer who has been tending to your mango farm is a tenant, we note the fact that aside from the P1,000.00 compensation given him for watching the fruiting mangoes, he gets a twenty (20%) share in the harvest. Such sharing indicates the existence of a tenancy relationship between you and said farmer on the mango orchard for which said farmer receives a share. We wish to add, however, that the foregoing opinion is based merely on the information supplied to us and does not constitute a decision in any case that may be pending or filed involving the same issue.

Very truly yours,

(SGD.) HECTOR D. SOLIMAN
Assistant Secretary Legal Affairs Office