During this period, there was no communal cultivation of land, no private landownership and there was equal access to the fruits of the lands.

During this period, many peasants were members of HUKBALAHAP (Hukbo ng

Bayan Laban sa Hapon).

He enacted Republic Act No. 34 to establish a 70-30 sharing arrangement between tenant and landlord. The 70% of the harvest will go to the person who shouldered the expenses for planting, harvesting and for the work animals. It also reduced the interest of landowners' loans to tenants at not more than 6%.

No legislation was passed during his term. He just continued the program of President Ramon Magsaysay.

During his term, Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954) was enacted to govern the relationship between landowners and tenant farmers by organizing share-tenancy and leasehold system. The law provided the

security of tenure of tenants. It also created the Court of Agrarian Relations.

He was considered the “Father of Agrarian Reform”. It was during his term that the Agricultural Land Reform Code or RA No. 3844 was enacted on August 8, 1963.

He signed the Code of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines into law which established the "Department of Agrarian Reform".

He enacted Republic Act 8532 also known as Agrarian Reform Fund Bill which provided an additional Php50 billion for CARP and extended its implementation for another 10 years.

Under his administration the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) created an anti-corruption task force to investigate and handle reports on alleged anomalous activities by officials and employees of the department.

Under his administration, the Agrarian Reform Community Connectivity and Economic Support Services (ARCCESS) project was created to contribute to the overall goal of rural poverty reduction especially in agrarian reform areas.

During his administration, he launched the Magkabalikat Para sa Kaunlarang Agraryo or MAGKASAKA.

Landownership was not a major issue not until the Spaniards came and imposed their system that held the natives on their neck. The natives had an almost equal

access to land as a part of their communal living. But when the Spaniards came, such privilege was deprived as ownership of land was transferred to the Spaniards.

During the Commonwealth period, agrarian reform policies were not successfully pushed through due to insufficient budget for resettlement and peasant unrests. World War II obstructed the agrarian reform programs of the government as the Japanese occupied the country. (Candelaria and Alporha, 2018)