"Land to tiller" has been the rallying slogan of the land reform program in the Philippines, with improvements in income and productivity in the agrarian sector expected to be realized. However, even if some equalization of incomes may have indeed occurred, the full benefits of the asset transfer have not been realized. Why? This Policy Notes suggests that the reason might be due to the fact that ill-defined land rights brought about by regulatory and bureaucratic impediments have rendered such lands as practically "dead capital/asset." The roots of this property rights problem are traced in this paper.
