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THE
National Land Use Committee (NLUC) will review the
proposal submitted by the Department of Agriculture (DA)
to the Office of the President to declare all rice lands
in the
Philippines
as protected areas.
Citing
pertinent provisions in the Agriculture and Fisheries
Modernization Act (Afma), the DA wants to protect all
irrigated areas, all irrigable lands already covered by
irrigation projects with firm funding commitments and
all alluvial plains highly suitable for agriculture.
Representatives from the agriculture department said the
proposal is aimed at helping the country achieve rice
self-sufficiency and help insulate the country from
external price shocks.
Officer-in-charge Deputy Director General of National
Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Regional
Development Office Marcelina Bacani, who is also the
current chairman of NLUC, traced the root of the problem
to the lack of implementation of existing policies
regarding land use.
“Sixteen
years ago, an NLUC technical working group formulated
Administrative Order 20, or the Interim Guidelines on
Agricultural Land Use Conversion, which was issued by
President Ramos. This order contains provisions on
protecting prime agricultural lands and became the basis
for subsequent laws such as the Afma,” she said.
AO 20
and the Afma protect agricultural lands that are
irrigated or about to be irrigated from conversion to
industrial or residential zones.
During
the meeting, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)
mentioned that an office memorandum circular (MC) has
been issued (dated April 15, 2008) to temporarily
suspend the processing and approval of all land-use
conversion (LUC) applications.
This is
in view of the presidential pronouncement for the review
of conversion guidelines with the DA and the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Assistant Secretary Cecilia Alba of the Housing and
Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) pointed
out that in consideration of the mass-housing program of
the government, the DAR also issued an office MC dated
April 23, 2008, lifting the moratorium on the processing
and approval of LUC applications for
government-initiated and/or private-sector led
socialized-housing projects.
Since
land conversion starts with reclassifying agricultural
lands into nonagricultural uses by local government
units (LGUs), the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board
will revisit their land reclassification monitoring
mechanism per MC 54 implementing Section 20 of the Local
Government Code (LGC).
Section
20 of the LGC restricts reclassification to other uses
by 15 percent of agricultural land for highly urbanized
and independent component cities, 10 percent for
component cities and first- to third-class
municipalities, and 5 percent for fourth- to sixth-class
municipalities.
The DAR
will prepare a report on the agricultural land-use
conversion process, including the approved conversion
applications and exemptions in the last five years in
response to the DA’s request to review and tighten as
necessary, oversight and monitoring mechanisms for land
use conversion. Also, the LGUs will firm up proposal on
LGU incentives for collecting taxes on idle lands.
NLUC
convened on April 29 to help identify bottlenecks, as
well as long-term solutions to the country’s
self-sufficiency in rice by looking at land-use policies
affecting agricultural land use conversion. The NLUC is
an interagency committee chaired by the Neda, with the
DA, DAR, DENR, the Departments of Trade and Industry,
Justice, Interior and Local Government, Tourism,
Transportation and Communications, Public Works and
Highways, and Science and Technology, along with the
HUDCC as members.
The
Leagues of Provinces, Cities and Municipalities and Neda
Sector Staffs (Agriculture, Development Information,
Infrastructure, Legal, Social Development and Trade,
Industry and Utilities) are also represented.
The NLUC
Secretariat is based at the Neda Regional Development
Coordination Staff. |
