February 21, 2002
DAR OPINION NO. 06-02
MR. LIBERIO O. ORDONO
534 Valencia Street
Sampaloc, Manila
Dear Mr. Ordono:
This refers to your letter dated 14 December 2001, requesting for information/opinion on whether or not you still have an obligation to pay the lessee if you decide to manage/till your land. AIHTEa
You stated that you are a retiree from a private company who owns (with your wife) five (5) parcels of agricultural land with an area of 2.10 hectares, more or less; that a lessee is renting a parcel of your land since 1972 and has been paying you P2,000 a year; that during dry/tobacco season, said lessee allows another farmer to rent said land for a consideration more than what he is paying you; and, that on your other four (4) parcels of land, the sharing is 70-30% on the crop produced.
At the outset, please be informed that under Section 7 of Republic Act No. 3844, as amended (The Agricultural land Reform Code), 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. He/she shall be entitled to security of tenure on his/her landholding and he/she cannot be ejected therefrom unless authorized by the Court (now DAR Adjudication Board) for causes provided by law.
Time and again, the Supreme Court has guaranteed the continuity and security of tenure of tenant. As elucidated in the case of Bernardo vs. Court of Appeals (168 SCRA 439), security of tenure is a legal concession to agricultural lessees which they value as life itself and deprivation of their landholding is tantamount to deprivation of their only means of livelihood.
In relation to your query, it is worthy to note Section 27(2) of R.A. No. 3844, as amended which provides, quote:
"Section 27. Prohibitions to Agricultural Lessee. It shall be unlawful. for the agricultural lessee:
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(2) To employ a sub-lessee on his landholding: Provided, however, That in case of illness or temporary incapacity, he may employ laborers Whose services on his landholding shall be on his account."
Finally, it should be stressed that personal cultivation is no longer a ground to terminate tenancy relationship, considering that the same has already been deleted as a ground for ejectment of the tenant under Section 7 of R.A. No. 6389, which amended Section 36 (1) of R.A. No. 3844. Such being the case, a landowner may not dispossess his tenant of his farmlot on the ground that the landowner will now personally cultivate the landholding.
Your intended personal cultivation will, in effect, cause dispossession of your tenant, an act that is prohibited by law and for which sanctions have been provided.
We hope to have clarified the matter.
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) VIRGILIO R. DE LOS REYES
Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and
Legal Affairs Office