The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The proposed two-year moratorium on the conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural uses appears
to have split some influential members of the Duterte Cabinet.
While the top officials of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and the departments
of Trade and Industry and Tourism, and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), have expressed objections to the proposed freeze, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano has stood pat on it.
In his latest statement, Mariano said the moratorium will provide the DAR with an opportunity “to review its issued conversion orders to determine if there are conversion plans that remained unimplemented for several years.” If these agricultural lands remained unconverted for industrial, residential and commercial purposes, the issued conversion orders may be revoked, he said.
“We can put these (lands) on areas open for housing projects, socialized housing projects,” he said in a press briefing.
An EO is now pending in Malacañang to implement the moratorium, and Mariano expressed optimism that President Duterte would issue the EO, noting that the freeze is meant to benefit the poor.
“There is an existing state policy to preserve prime agricultural lands to ensure food security,” he said.
Mariano said the moratorium also covers all awarded lands under Republic Act 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, agricultural lands with notices of coverage issued by DAR, irrigated and irrigable lands, privately-owned lands with farmer tenants, and agricultural lands with presence of agricultural activities or being cultivated by the farmers, individually or collectively.
Nevertheless, the DAR chief asked concerned agencies and affected sectors to submit their position papers to the Office of the President for consideration of the Chief Executive.
“We believe the moratorium will not have any grave impact on socialized housing or on the need to develop sites for renewable energy,” Agrarian Reform Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Luis Pañgulayan said.
Pañgulayan said the moratorium shall only apply to all applications for land-use conversion that will be filed after the effectivity of the EO.
“Those that already applied, they will be processed… They will be reviewed subject to compliance with the requirements,” he said.
Pañgulayan revealed that some stakeholders were asking for a moratorium exemption for the agricultural business sector.
“It (exemption) depends on the President,” he said.
DAR officials are saying the President’s approval of the proposed moratorium on the conversion of agricultural lands is among the department’s achievements in the administration’s first 100 days.
To mark the occasion, Mariano distributed certificates of land ownership awards (CLOAs) to 175 Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) in Mambuaro, Occidental Mindoro, and 300 ARBs in Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte.
He issued guidelines governing the completion of distribution and titling of landed estates.
Earlier, it was reported that Malacanang appeared to have stepped back a little in the controversy over the proposed moratorium.
A DAR spokesman was quoted as saying land conversion would still be allowed in areas to be identified by the departments of Trade and Industry, Agriculture, Tourism, and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza).
The reports said the compromise was the apparent offshoot of widespread protest mainly in the business sector on the land conversion ban, which Mariano described in an interview with The Market Monitor as a done deal, which already has an Executive Order drafted for it.
Agrarian Reform Undersecretary Marcos Risonar said that land conversion would still be allowed under the EO awaiting the signature of President Duterte.
Earlier, PEZA Deputy Director-General Justo Porfirio Yusingco expressed the agency’s concern over the moratorium, saying it might halt the development of new economic zones, which would in turn affect the entry of new investments and expansion of companies in the ecozones. “We’re pushing really for new economic zones,” he said.
Even Bangko Sentral ng Pilpinas (BSP) Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo warned the government that the ban would have a backlash on the housing industry’s bid to ensure the sector’s continued growth and for more people to benefit from it.