NAPC backs moratorium on farmland conversion

By Louise Maureen Simeon (The Philippine Star), October 18, 2016

MANILA, Philippines – The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) reiterated its opposition to a proposed ban on the conversion of agricultural lands into commercial use, saying such a plan would leave farmers landless and the urban poor homeless.

NAPC, which is under the Office of the President, called “hypocritical” the appeal made by real estate developers and large business groups to prohibit the conversion of agricultural lands for two years.

“These big business groups should not pit poor informal settlers against poor farmers, just to protect the interests of unscrupulous realty developers that have colluded with landlord oligarchs to subvert genuine agrarian reform. This is the height of hypocrisy,” NAPC secretary Liza Maza said.

While NAPC welcomes the effort of the private sector to venture into mass housing projects for the poor, Maza emphasized many of the low-cost housing projects are anti-poor.

“The same is true for many government housing projects. How many times have informal settlers been relocated to housing sites that have no electricity, no water and no livelihood opportunities? And to think that these housing-relocation sites stand on agrarian reform lands that have been unjustly taken from farmer-tenants which makes it a double burden to the poor,” she said.

Maza added that the massive conversion of agricultural lands in the rural areas has forced the migration of rural farming families to the urban areas in search of livelihood, bloating the urban population and creating the crisis in housing.

According to data from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), there are around 26 million Filipinos living on less than P61 a day and can spend approximately 2.2 percent to six percent of their income on housing.

The relatively cheaper options for resettlement off-city will charge up to P600 a month per unit.

Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the proposal of the Department of Agrarian Reform to impose a two-year moratorium on land conversion which disallows the use of agricultural lands for non-agricultural uses.

An executive order putting the moratorium in effect will cover agricultural lands under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, Presidential Decree 27 and other land reform policies.

On the other hand, NEDA circulated a petition stating that a moratorium could worsen the prevailing housing backlog in the country.

According to NEDA, the ban could derail efforts to revitalize the agriculture sector because it may limit the expansion of manufacturing and processing activities tied to farming.

The proposed ban on land conversion may also impede efforts to address the housing backlog and accelerate infrastructure development as such could give rise to right-of-way issues.