MANILA – Negros Oriental Third District Rep. Arnulfo Teves on Monday filed a bill creating a well-defined approach on various conflicting provisions on land use.
Teves filed House Bill (HB) No. 2878 or the National Land Use and Management Act to address serious problems and chaos arising from improper land use planning in the country.
HB 2978 aims to spell out parameters that would guide planning at the national and local levels for the proper and systematic land use policy.
“Improper land use planning and the sectoral approach to resource governance would only result in unsustainable, uncoordinated, and unregulated use of land that often leads to conflicts, abuses, and waste of resources. This will have adverse effects on our society and environment,” Teves said.
Teves said his proposed bill would provide guidelines in major areas, such as agricultural lands, forestlands and watersheds, coastal zones, mineral lands, energy resource lands, settlement development areas, industrial development areas, tourism development and heritage areas.
He added that while there are several existing laws that cover issues on land use, land registration, agrarian reform, ancestral domain, mining, agricultural modernization, urban development, housing and settlements, taxation, and local governance, these are sectoral in nature and “have conflicting provisions on the use of land.”
Under the bill, planning processes at all levels shall include mandatory consultation in a bottom-up, top-down approach, and the plans would be subject to review and would include clear timelines for their approval and adoption.
It also seek to address vital issues on agrarian reform, climate change, the completion of a national database and geo-hazard mapping, and disaster risk reduction and management.
“Initiatives on crafting of a national land use and management policy began more than two decades ago. It is high time that this proposed measure be enacted into law,” Teves said.
Teves noted that the country has around 30 million hectares of land and inland waters, utilized by at least 112 million people and the population is continuously growing.
“These land resources are finite hence, there is a pressing need to institutionalize a holistic, national, and comprehensive land use and physical planning mechanism to efficiently manage and develop our land resources amidst the growing population, climate change and concerns on sustainable development,” Teves said. (PNA)
