Congress approves national land use bill

by Jude Sulit

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading House Bill 6545 which seeks for the proper utilization and management of the country’s land resources.

The bill, authored by Akbayan Representative Kaka Bag-ao was passed last week, September 20, upon a unanimous vote before the Congress’ two-week recess.

To be known as the National Land Use Management Act, the measure further seeks to end the widespread destruction of land resources and ensure its optimum use.

As defined in the bill, the institutionalization of land use and physical planning as a mechanism for identifying, determining and evaluation for appropriate land use and allocation promotes and ensures the 54 percent forest cover to preserve the environment.

With the measure’s approval, land use will be defined under the following areas: protection, production, settlements development; and infrastructure development. Bag-ao, an agrarian reform advocate, said in a press release that the increasing demands, cases of abuses and misuses of the natural resources turned out to be the effects of the continuous growth of the country’s population within the limited characters of land.

The state’s intervention, according to her, would be of great importance to rationalize the utilization, management and development of land resources.

“Indiscriminate use of lands without regard to its adverse effect in society and the environment must be regulated in the interest of the general welfare of the present and future generations,” said Bag-ao in a news report.

One of the primary features of the bill is the creation of National Land Use Policy Council that shall head all affairs pertaining to the planning and management of land resources at the national and sub-national levels. The Secretary of National Economic and Development Authority is tasked to be the chief of this policy-making body.

Furthermore, the Act aims to define the scope and nature of the responsibilities that national government agencies should fulfill to completely execute the purposes of the bill.