Lawmaker seeks probe of govt land-lease deals with foreign firms

A militant lawmaker has asked Congress to investigate the contracts entered into by the Philippine government and local governments that reportedly allow foreign corporations long-term use of the country’s agricultural lands.

Rep. Rafael Mariano of Anak­pawis filed House Resolution 1282 directing the House Committee on Agriculture and Food to probe the land-lease agreements with foreign entities entered into by the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and the local governments.

Mariano said the alleged agreements involve vast tracts of lands that foreign corporations leasing the areas could use for their industrial and commercial needs.

“These could have a dire impact on the country’s food security, on the small farmers, and on the capabilities to flexibly mobilize the country’s land resources for the well-rounded development of agriculture,” Mariano said.

The lawmaker cited the land-lease contract entered into by the DENR and PCA with Bio-Diversity North Luzon Inc., a subsidiary of the Japanese Pacific Bio-Fields Corp., which involves 600,000 hectares of land in the Ilocos Region for the production of coco-based bio-fuels.

He also noted the land lease deal between the local government of Mindoro and Jeonnam Feedstock Ltd., a company based in South Korea, which covers 94,000 hectares of land for the production of corn for feed production.

“Both leases are for a term of 25 years and renewable,” Mariano said, adding that these deals are unconstitutional as they violate Section 2 and 3 of Article XII of the 1987 Constitution.

“The irony of these land-lease deals is that they are geared toward producing crops for the industrial and commercial needs of the countries of origin of the foreign investors [leasing the lands], while our country has suffered perennially from under-productivity of rice to the extent that we [have been] import-dependent since the late 1970s,” he said further.

He also sought clarification of the “two-million hectare agribusiness development program” of President Gloria Arroyo.

“It appears that offering our lands to foreign investors has always figured in the official agenda of PGMA’s numerous state visits to other countries since assuming office,” Mariano said.

He said that President Arroyo announced during her state visit to Qatar the possibility of leasing at least 1000,000 hectares of agricultural lands to the emirate.

Mariano added that Mrs. Arroyo also announced after her US visit that the government has bagged a 35-year supply contract with Libby’s fruits worth $500 million in Bicol and Eastern Visayas and another contract with a bio-fuel producer that will involve a $200-million investment in Northern Mindanao.

He said the contracts appear to be beneficial to the country based on the presumption that foreign investments are good for the country, but warned the government should also consider the long-term effects of the agreements on agricultural development.

Mariano further said that the projects the foreign corporations and entities will put up in those lands could result in the displacement of local farmers and indigenous peoples. –Frank Lloyd Tiongson, Reporter, Manila Times