House OKs National Land Use Act on final reading

THE House of Representatives approved on Tuesday on final reading the House Bill No. 8466, or the proposed National Land Use Act with a decisive vote of 224 against 3 and zero abstain.

House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” A. Marcos III said the measure will help address long standing issues on food security, housing, disaster resilience, and infrastructure planning. He noted that clearer land use policies will lead to safer communities, better planned roads, and protected agricultural areas.

Representative Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, the main author of the bill, said it aims to balance development and environmental protection.

“Land use sounds technical, but at its heart it is about fairness: where people can live safety, where farmers can keep producing food… and where government can build without creating new problems,” he said.

The bill establishes the National Land Use Commission under the Office of the President and will prepare a 30-year National Physical Framework Plan to be reviewed every 10 years. It also mandates local government units to align their land use plans with the national framework.

The bill will also classify the land into protection, production, settlements, and infrastructure, including strict protection of agricultural lands and penalties for illegal land conversion. It also includes climate risk planning and protection of ancestral domains and natural resources. — Pexcel John Bacon