THE House Special Committee on Land Use on Thursday approved the proposed National Land Use Act of the Philippines.
“We all know that our country is blessed with abundant natural resources and diverse landscapes, but these resources are not always used in the best way. This important legislation is a critical step toward achieving sustainable development in our country,” she added. “These provisions were adopted in this consolidated bill with some revisions based on the inputs given by the different agencies with expertise on these fields or with mandates to protect the interest of the marginalized sectors including the indigenous peoples and cultural communities,” Vergara said.
“Such failure may even lead to conviction and imprisonment of the local chief executive and other local officials and employees responsible for the formulation and enforcement of the Clups in certain cases and subject to compliance with due process requirements,” she said. Brosas explained that what the NLU bill merely does is to protect existing irrigated and irrigable lands from conversion instead of expanding lands for food production, particularly rice and other key agricultural commodities.