Agrarian reform policies their social justice content and consequences on rural development

The social justice content in terms of the allocative principle of agrarian reform policies has critical consequences on rural development. For one, it can shape the power structure in rural society. This was found out when three cases of public policies: the Operation Land Transfer (OLT), the Corporate Farming Program (CFP), and the Masagana 99 Rice Production Program (M99) were content analyzed. The OLT not only maintains landlordism but even contributes to the formation of intermediate landlordism and subtenancy; the CFP introduces a new landlord - the corporation; and M99 promotes the emergence of commercial farmers, another tier to the existing power pyramid. When the coherence of the policies are analyzed, they are found to manifest elements of both technocratic and reformist approaches; they are growth-oriented but at the same time exhibiting redistributive concerns. This study thus proves that the value or normative commitments of governments as manifested in the policies they adopt do make a difference.