VOTING 262 against three and zero abstentions, the long-sought measure seeking to institutionalize a national land use policy was overwhelmingly approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives on Monday.

Embodied in House Bill (HB) No. 8162, the proposed Act instituting a national land use policy, providing the implementing mechanisms, creating for the purpose the National Land Use Commission, is among the Legislative-Executive Development Council (LEDAC) measures of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

“This is a long-awaited measure and the President knows its importance. Through this proposed National Land Use Act (NLUA), the government will have the tool to properly identify land use and allocation patterns in all parts of the country,” Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said following the passage of HB No. 8162.

“Through the guidance of the Chief Executive, the House members also made it so that the measure would pave the way for the Philippines to achieve food security,” Romualdez said.

President Marcos is the concurrent Department of Agriculture (DA) secretary.

Some of the principal authors of the measure are Reps. Francisco Jose Matugas II, Manuel Jose M. Dalipe, Rosanna Vergara, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Joey Sarte Salceda, Mikee Romero, Rufus Rodriguez, Romeo Acop, and others.

Under HB No.8162, the National Land Use Commission (NLUC) is created under the Office of the President (OP). It shall exercise the powers and responsibilities of the current National Land Use Committee, which is hereby abolished.

Among the powers and functions of the Commission is to advise the President of the Philippines on all matters concerning land use and physical planning; Integrate and harmonize all laws, guidelines, and policies relevant to land use and physical planning to come up with a rational, cohesive, and comprehensive national land use framework; and prepare, periodically review and if necessary, update the national framework for physical planning to provide the general framework for the spatial development directions for the entire country and sub-national levels

The NLUC serves as the heart of the legislation and acts as the highest policy-making body on land use and resolves land use policy conflicts between or among agencies, branches, or levels of the government.

The NLUC commissioner will have the rank of Cabinet Secretary, while the two deputy NLUC commissioners will be given the titles of undersecretary.

The National Land Use Office (NLUO), which shall serve as the technical secretariat to the NLUC, shall also be created under the OP.

“All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural
resources are owned by the State. With the exception of agricultural lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated,” the bill said.

“Pursuant to the constitutional provision or mandate, it is the policy of the State to provide for a rational, holistic, and just allocation, utilization, management, and development of the country’s land to ensure their optimum use to promote sustainable socio-economic development and ecological protection,” it added.

Through HB No. 8162, the State institutionalizes land use and physical planning as mechanisms for identifying, determining, and evaluating appropriate land use and allocation patterns that promote and ensure, among others, the sustainable management and utilization of natural resources; disaster risk-reduction and climate change resiliency; and protection of prime agricultural lands for food security in basic commodities with an emphasis on self-sufficiency in rice and corn.

They likewise seek the perpetual protection of permanent forests and watershed and ecosystem services for the attainment of food, water, and energy sufficiency; and the protection, preservation, and development of the country’s historical, cultural, archaeological, and built heritage resources for the deeper understanding of our history and culture as a people.

The bill also provides mandatory consultations from the regional, provincial, city, and municipal levels, as well as harmonizes existing rules and regulations governing the allocation, utilization, development, and management of land resources.