Obstructionist senators

Proof that the Old Boys’ Club called the Senate puts the interests and whims of a member above national interest is the failure of the National Land Use Act (NLUA) to gain any headway in the chamber.

A member who is heavily involved in land banking for property projects has hindered discussions on the bill, which unfortunately fell under the senator’s panel. It did not matter that the National Land Use Act was a priority measure of the Marcos administration.

Several administrations have been frustrated by the passage of the law despite the strong endorsement of successive Presidents.

The counterpart measure, House Bill 8162, was approved on 22 May 2023 and forwarded after two days to the Senate. House members recognized the bill’s significance, as it passed through an overwhelming vote of 262-3 during plenary.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. identified the NLUA as one of his administration’s priority legislative agendas during his first State of the Nation Address (SoNA) in 2022. The Chief Executive explained the value of implementing the NLUA, as it will integrate policies on the use and protection of lands, including guidelines on land use planning at both national and local levels.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte, in his third SoNA address, also endorsed the NLUA as his priority measure, saying, “The protection of the environment must be top priority; resources must be used for the benefit of the Filipino people, not just a select few. Do not just give me taxes, I can get that from other sources. Give me what needs to be given to my countrymen.”

Even the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations had made its case in pushing for the law, saying there is a “long-standing need for the National Land Use Act.”

The bill also seeks to put the National Land Use Planning Commission (NLUPC) under the Office of the President, which would handle the management and planning of land use and resolve policy conflicts.

The NLUPC, which is tasked with resolving land use conflicts at the national level, lacks enforcement power and struggles to impose sanctions on non-compliant parties in its present form.

Previous discussions on the bill had property developers opposing it, describing the provision on converting agricultural lands for commercial purposes as restrictive.

Based on the bill stuck in suspended animation at the Senate, “prime agricultural lands shall be maintained, managed and protected for agricultural purposes and shall not be subjected to any form of conversion or reclassification.”

Even Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan stated the urgency of the NLUA to secure the future of food availability by ensuring that there is enough land to plant on.

The Senate’s repulsion of the NLUA is primarily being fed by the insatiable hunger of developers for real estate due to the business process outsourcing boom, which creates urban centers virtually overnight when a call center office is set up.

Add to this the increasing wealth of Filipino families due to the stream of cash transfers from relatives working abroad.

State think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies listed 30 overlapping environmental and ecological protection laws and policies on the use of water and land management that are exploited by property developers to convert farmlands.

Mechanisms such as land zoning and reclassification provide some avenues for land use regulation, “but their efficacy is limited.” Protracted disputes and the need for presidential intervention, as seen in past conflicts over land use conversion, become the rule rather than the exception, according to PIDS.

The chaotic rules on land use conversion provide several loopholes that favor the interests of property development, which is the biggest money-making industry that created several Filipino billionaires.

Blocking the passage of the crucial law created the situation in which the Philippines is the world’s biggest importer of rice while the richest Filipinos are property magnates.