National land use bill to worsen land use conversion — farmers – updates from the peasant movement of the Philippines

Proposed measure House Bill 8162 or the National Land Use Bill certified as urgent and a priority legislation of the Marcos Jr administration, will provide a national framework for the development of the country’s land resources to ensure its optimum use consistent with principles of so-called “sustainable development.” It will create the National Land Use Commission that will draft the National Physical Framework Plan (NPFP) that will replace the country’s NPFP 2001-2030.

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, KADAMAY, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Kalikasan and other groups led a protest outside the House of Representatives ahead of the bill’s looming approval on third and final reading.

“Our opposition to House Bill 8162 or the National Land Use is valid. The bill’s primary sponsor Siargao Rep. Bingo Matugas, also the chairperson of the House Special Committee on Land Use said outright that this proposed National Land Use policy is for foreign investments. To quote his own words: “This bill being passed into law will be a sure-fire game-changer in terms of foreign investment for the Philippines…One of the objectives is for our friends from all parts of the world — who carry with them the right resources and good intentions for our country — to immediately see an organized, prepared and detail-oriented Philippines ripe and ready for their investments.”

“So, again we ask Congress — for whose interest will the National Land Use Bill serve? Ang paggamit dapat ng mga kalupaan at natural resources ng bansa ay para sa mga Pilipino at tunay na pag-unlad ng bayan. It should not be for big businesses and profits and interests of foreign capital,” according to KMP Chairperson Danilo Ramos.

“We are all for a pro-people and pro-Filipino National Land Use Policy — to protect and preserve agricultural lands for genuine rural development and national industrialization. In fact, in 2007, we helped craft the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB) which we see as as a just and equitable land use policy that puts primacy in the interest of the country’s majority population — farmers and the peasant masses,” Ramos said. The KMP leader added that GARB has not seen the light of day in the 19th Congress under Speaker Martin Romualdez, as the bill was put in the backburner to give way to pro-business and pro-foreign legislative measures.

In its critique of the proposed NaLUA, KMP stated: “Sa batayan, hindi bahagi ng mga layunin ng NaLUA ang pagkakamit sa sariling kasapatan sa pagkain o food self-sufficiency, pagpapaunlad sa lokal na agrikultura at kanayunan, at industriyalisasyon. Dahil dito, nanganganib na umayon lang sa interes ng mga negosyo ang panukalang NaLUA at ipagpatuloy lang o palalain pa nga ang problema ng land use conversion.”

“Sa HB 8162, inaalis din ang klasipikasyong agrikultural at isinama ito sa klasipikasyong pamproduksyon (production development), kasama ng iba pang gamit ng lupa gaya ng industriyal at panturismo. Maaaring pahintulutan nito ang pagtatayo ng commercial establishments sa mga sakahan dahil pareho na itong saklaw ng lupang pamproduksyon. Sa kongkreto, nangangahulugan ito ng pagpapalayas sa mga magsasaka at pagwasak sa mga sakahan. Maaring magdulot ito ng pagliit ng produksyong agrikultural, pagtindi ng kagutuman, at paglala ng pag-sandig ng bansa sa dayuhang puhunan.”

NEDA has a draft NPFP 2016-2045 that will guide the location of investments, improve the flow of people, goods and services, protect and conserve the environment, reduce disaster risk and vulnerability to natural hazards. ###

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Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas or Peasant Movement of the Philippines (KMP) was founded at a time of great political upheaval and broad mass movement against the tyranny and abuses of the Marcos dictatorship. Hundreds of peasant leaders and land reform advocates from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao gathered during the historic founding of KMP on July 24, 1985. After thirty five years, KMP remains as the largest national democratic mass organization of peasants in the Philippines.

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